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WILLIAM  H.WRIGHT 


"The  Wicked  Borroweth,  and  Returneth  Not  Again,' 


JOHN  M.  GOOD 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

•o 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


THE  GRIZZLY  BEAR 


From  a  photograph,  copyright,   1909,  by  J  . 


AT    BAY 


THE  GRIZZLY  BEAR 

THE  NARRATIVE  OF  A  HUNTER- 
NATURALIST 

HISTORICAL,   SCIENTIFIC  AND 
ADVENTUROUS 


BY 

WILLIAM  H.  WRIGHT 


ILLUSTRATED    FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS    BY    THE   AUTHOR 

AND  J.  B.   KERFOOT 

I 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK     -    -  1913 


COPYRIGHT,  1909,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  September,  1909 


THIS   BOOK  IS 
DEDICATED 

WITH   THE   RESPECT,    ADMIRATION   AND   AFFECTION 

OF   THE   AUTHOR, 

TO  THE   NOBLEST   WILD   ANIMAL   OF   NORTH   AMERICA, 
THE  GRIZZLY  BEAR 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
HISTORICAL 

CHAPTER 

I.    AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 3 

II.     EARLY  HISTORY — LEWIS  AND  CLARK         .        .  13 

III.  FOLLOWERS  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK    ...  26 

IV.  JAMES  CAPEN  ADAMS 37 

V.    THE  SCIENTIFIC  CLASSIFICATION  OF  BEARS      .  48 

PART  II 
MY  EXPERIENCES  AND  ADVENTURES 

VI.    MY  FIRST  GRIZZLY 55 

VII.     FIVE  IN  FIVE  SHOTS 63 

VIII.     GRIZZLY  GOURMETS 69 

IX.    TRAILING 77 

X.    A  CHARGING  GRIZZLY 87 

XL    AT  CLOSE  QUARTERS 95 

XII.    MY  FIRST  TRIP  TO  THE  SELKIRKS    .        .        .105 

XIII.  THE  SELKIRKS  REVISITED          .        .        .        .117 

XIV.  THE  UNEXPECTED 133 

vii 


Contents 


CHAPTER 


XV.    A  SPRING  GUN  AVOIDED 138 

XVI.    A  PHOTOGRAPHIC  EXPEDITION  .        .        .        .142 
XVII.     FLASHLIGHTING  GRIZZLIES          .        .        .        .164 

PART  III 
CHARACTER   AND   HABITS   OF   THE   GRIZZLY 

XVIII.  DESCRIPTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION        .        .        .185 

.  XIX.  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HABITS   .        .        .        .199 

XX.  FOOD  AND  FEEDING   .        .        .                 .        .    217 

XXI.     His  FIERCENESS 229 

XXII.     His  VITALITY 247 

XXIII.  FACT  VERSUS  FICTION 256 

XXIV.  CONCLUSION .    265 

INDEX 269 


viii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

At  bay Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

A  camp  in  the  Sierras 44 

A  thousand-pounder,  half  as  broad  as  he  was  long    .         .  58 

Grizzlies  feeding 66 

A  grizzly  coming  out  of  the  woods 72 

Listening     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  78 

Elk  Summit,  Bitter  Root  Mountains           ....  96 

Near  the  head-waters  of  Wilson's  Creek     ....  106 

The  home  of  the  grizzly — in  the  Selkirks   .         .         .         .112 

Travelling  in  the  Selkirks 118 

He  landed  in  the  little  trail  that  we  were  following    .         .134 

In  the  Bitter  Roots — the  old  grizzly  and  her  two  cubs        .  136 

His  suspicions  aroused 140 

He  came  on,  stopping  and  sniffing      .         .         .         .         .  150 

A  flash  that  failed 168 

She  was  an  old  bald-face  with  three  cubs   .         .         .         .176 

ix 


x  Illustrations 

FACING  PAGE 

Front  foot  of  a  black  bear,  front  track  of  a  black  bear;  front 
foot  of  a  grizzly  bear,  front  track  of  a  grizzly  bear      .         .186 

Hind  foot  of  a  black  bear,  hind  track  of  a  black  bear;  hind 
foot  of  a  grizzly  bear,  hind  track  of  a  grizzly  bear     .         .188 

The  grizzly's  walk  is  a  kind  of  shuffle  .  .  .  .196 
Grizzly-bear  cub,  twelve  hours  old — two-thirds  natural  size  .  200 

Roots  of  which  some  grizzlies  are  fond — the  dog-tooth  violet, 
the  spring  beauty     ........     222 

A  case  where  curiosity  looks  like  blood-thirstiness  .  .  238 
In  the  pink  of  condition :  young,  sleek,  vigorous,  and  alert  .  252 
Three-year-olds 266 


PART  I 
HISTORICAL 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 

THE  object  of  this  book  is  to  place  on  record  the 
facts  I  have  gleaned,  and  the  deductions  I  have 
drawn,  from  some  twenty-five  years  of  more  or  less  con- 
stant observation  of  the  grizzly  bear.  This  is  an  animal 
much  talked  about,  but  little  studied.  It  is  now  well  on 
its  way  toward  extinction.  Our  acquaintance  with  its 
life  history  is  broken  by  many  gaps  and  supplemented  by 
many  conjectures.  Some  of  these  gaps  I  believe  myself 
able  to  fill;  some  of  these  conjectures  I  propose  to  ex- 
amine and  discuss.  Before,  therefore,  venturing  even  ten- 
tatively to  take  the  chair  as  a  witness,  I  find  it  only  right 
that  I  should,  in  so  far  as  I  am  entitled  to  do  so,  qualify 
as  an  expert. 

I  was  born  in  1856  on  a  small  farm  in  southern  New 
Hampshire.  This  farm,  like  its  neighbors,  was  little 
more  than  piles  of  rock  fenced  in  by  other  piles  of  rock; 
and  from  the  time  I  was  twelve  years  old  or  so  I  worked 
on  these  piles  of  rock  during  the  summer,  and  at  coopering 
or  lumbering  during  the  winter,  and  in  the  saw-mills  in  the 
spring. 

I  had  little  schooling,  and,  indeed,  little  chance  of  it; 
but  one  of  my  earliest  recollections  is  nevertheless  con- 

3 


4  The  Grizzly  Bear 

nected  with  a  book.  I  have  often  seen  in  the  newspapers 
and  magazines  replies  of  various  persons  of  note  to  the 
question,  "What  book  has  exerted  the  greatest  influence 
on  your  life  ?"  Most  of  these  answers  I  notice  are  rather 
hazy,  but  if  I  had  ever  been  asked  to  reply  to  this  question, 
I  should  have  been  able  to  answer  without  any  hesitation. 
And  my  answer  would  have  been,  "The  Adventures  of 
James  Capen  Adams,  Grizzly  Bear  Hunter  of  California." 
This  book,  by  what  chance  I  am  unable  to  guess,  was  in 
the  town  library  of  the  village  nearest  our  home.  I  sup- 
pose that  my  father,  thinking  that  its  illustrations  would 
amuse  his  sons,  had  brought  it  home  for  us.  At  any  rate, 
although  I  have  no  recollection  of  seeing  it  for  the  first 
time,  I  remember  my  father's  reading  aloud  from  it  in  the 
evenings,  and  our  repeated  request  that  he  would  get  it 
for  us  again.  I  think  that  before  we  could  read  ourselves, 
my  brother  and  myself  must  have  all  but  worn  out  the  old 
book  looking  at  its  pictures. 

Along  about  this  time,  in  the  early  sixties,  when  I  was 
some  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  Barnum's  Circus  made  a 
tour  of  the  New  England  States,  and  their  posters  exhib- 
ited the  picture  of  a  huge  grizzly,  which  was  advertised  as 
having  been  caught  by  this  man  Adams.  You  can,  per- 
haps, imagine  the  effect  of  this  upon  us  youngsters,  and 
the  condition  we  were  in  when  the  circus  came  to  Nashua, 
and  our  father  consented  to  take  us  to  see  it.  That  bear 
is  about  the  only  thing  I  remember  about  my  first  circus. 
I  know  I  went  back  every  few  minutes  to  look  at  him;  and 
I  can  see  him  now,  pacing  backward  and  forward  in  his 
great  cage.  I  can  see  just  how  his  toe-nails  looked  and 
can  remember  the  exact  color  of  him.  There  is  nothing 


Autobiographical  5 

strange  in  the  fact  that  I  had  already,  boylike,  dreamed 
of  emulating  Adams.  It  is  even  less  strange  that  that 
evening  I  openly  declared  my  resolution.  The  only 
strange  thing  about  it  is  that  I  never  changed  my  mind. 

In  those  days,  and  in  that  country,  fathers  had  an  un- 
disputed proprietary  interest  in  their  children  until  they 
came  definitely  of  age.  It  never  occurred  to  either  side 
to  question  it,  and  while,  as  I  grew  toward  manhood,  I 
found  myself  more  and  more  seriously  determined  to  go 
west  and  become  a  hunter,  I  worked  steadily  on  the 
home  farm  and  at  home  pursuits  till  I  was  twenty-one. 
Then,  since  I  had  no  means  of  my  own,  I  went  to 
Fitchburg,  and  got  work  in  a  machine-shop.  I  had 
already,  at  home,  learned  blacksmithing;  and  now,  as  I 
had  had  little  opportunity  of  education,  I  went  to  night 
school.  I  worked,  first  and  last,  all  over  New  England. 
I  was  soon  getting  the  highest  wages.  I  was  never  laid 
off  when  there  was  any  work  to  be  done,  and  whenever 
a  shop  closed  down  at  one  place,  I  got  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation and  went  to  the  next  town. 

Meanwhile  I  had  not  lost  sight  of  my  real  purpose.  I 
had  long  owned  a  tent  and  a  rifle.  I  had,  whenever  I 
could,  gone  into  the  woods.  I  knew  well  how  to  fend 
for  myself  in  the  open,  and  was  something  of  a  crack  shot 
both  at  a  mark  and  at  game. 

In  1883  (I  was  then  working  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  for 
Brown  &  Sharp),  a  man  came  around  the  country  hiring 
mechanics  for  a  large  machine-shop  in  Melbourne,  Aus- 
tralia. The  men,  I  remember,  were  to  pay  their  own  way 
out,  and  if  they  stayed  eighteen  months,  were  to  be  reim- 
bursed. It  was  a  far  cry  from  the  opportunity  I  had  been 


6  The  Grizzly  Bear 

looking  for,  but  it  interested  me  enough  to  send  me  to  the 
ticket  office  to  make  inquiries.  A  man  named  Church  was 
ticket  agent  at  the  time,  and  in  the  course  of  our  conversa- 
tion he  told  me  that  there  were  a  number  of  people  think- 
ing of  going  west,  and  that  if  I  would  give  him  three  weeks 
in  which  to  advertise  a  trip,  and  would  take  charge  of  two 
car-loads  of  emigrants,  he  would  give  me  a  ticket  to  Port- 
land, Oregon,  and  return. 

Naturally  I  jumped  at  the  chance,  though  I  wished 
many  a  time  before  I  was  rid  of  my  charges  that  I  had 
paid  my  fare.  One  car-load  of  settlers  was  switched  off 
at  Chicago  bound  for  San  Francisco;  the  others,  with 
myself  in  charge,  went  north-west  to  St.  Paul  and  beyond. 
And  I  dropped  the  last  of  them  at  Mussel  Shell,  Montana, 
where  there  was  a  large  sheep-raising  industry.  There 
were  now  four  of  us,  a  carpenter  from  Maine,  a  jeweller 
and  a  blacksmith  from  Providence,  and  myself.  I  was 
keeping  Melbourne  up  my  sleeve,  but  had  determined  to 
stop  off  in  the  West  if  I  could  find  a  locality  where  I  would 
be  apt  to  get  a  grizzly,  and  I  had  made  inquiries  all  along 
the  road  from  every  one  who  was  supposed  to  know  the 
country.  Of  course  I  had  heard  the  usual  number  and 
the  usual  kind  of  bear  stories,  but  I  was  so  repeatedly 
informed  that  in  the  hills  surrounding  Spokane,  there 
were  plenty  of  grizzlies,  if  any  one  had  the  nerve  to 
hunt  them,  that  in  the  end  three  of  us,  the  jeweller,  the 
blacksmith,  and  myself,  got  off  there. 

Spokane  was  then  a  town  of  about  fifteen  hundred 
inhabitants.  I  had  brought  a  camp  outfit  with  me  from 
the  East  and,  when  we  got  off  the  train,  I  secured  a  wheel- 
barrow, wheeled  my  trunk  and  my  other  belongings  down 


Autobiographical  7 

to  the  river  bank  about  half  a  mile  out  of  town,  set  up  my 
tent,  and  went  hunting — for  a  job.  I  had  twelve  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  in  my  pocket  and  these  two  boys,  who  had 
nothing  at  all,  on  my  hands.  Luck,  however,  was  with 
me.  One  of  the  first  people  I  met  was  an  old  man  named 
Weeks,  who  ran  a  blacksmith  and  machine  shop,  and 
when  I  showed  him  my  credentials  and  told  him  my 
qualifications  he  employed  me. 

This  was  on  the  I3th  of  May,  1883.  It  was  just  after 
the  mining  boom  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  had  burst;  and 
Spokane,  being  the  nearest  settlement,  was  the  dumping 
ground  for  the  horde  of  disappointed  and  destitute  men 
who  tramped,  foot-sore  and  desperate,  out  of  the  moun- 
tains. In  those  days  there  was  only  a  train  a  day  each 
way  on  the  Northern  Pacific — and  not  always  that. 
When  a  train  steamed  into  the  little  station  at  Spokane, 
a  crowd,  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  gathered  to  watch  it; 
some  merely  curious;  some  looking  for  an  un watched 
brake-beam  to  ride  away  on;  some  spotting  any  arrivals 
who  appeared  to  have  money,  and  who  later  on  were  not 
any  too  secure  against  hold-ups. 

While  I  was  standing  talking  to  Weeks  in  front  of  a 
stable,  which  he  also  owned,  we  saw  a  man  who  had  ar- 
rived by  my  train  come  out  of  the  little  hotel  called  the 
San  Francisco  House,  and  walk  down  the  street  toward  a 
stone  smoke-house,  directly  across  from  where  we  stood. 
He  had  on  a  light  overcoat  and  had  his  hands  in  his  pock- 
ets. It  was  nearly  dusk,  and  just  as  he  reached  the  smoke- 
house a  man  jumped  out  from  behind  it  and  shoved  a 
pistol  in  his  face.  There  was  a  shot,  and  the  man  with 
the  pistol  fell  headlong  into  the  street.  It  turned  out 


8  The  Grizzly  Bear 

afterward  that  the  traveller  had  had  a  pistol,  one  of  the 
old  British  bulldogs,  in  his  overcoat  pocket,  and  when 
the  robber  told  him  to  throw  up  his  hands,  he  had  simply 
fired  through  his  coat.  The  wounded  man  died  in  a  few 
hours,  after  exonerating  his  slayer  by  saying,  "He  is  all 
right,  I'd  have  got  him  if  he  hadn't  got  me."  This  was 
my  introduction  to  Spokane. 

I  lived  in  my  tent  for  a  year.  I  secured  the  contract 
to  carry  the  United  States  mail  between  the  railroad 
station  and  the  post-office.  There  was  only  one  small 
sack  a  day  each  way,  and  not  always  that  (I  remember 
that  once  there  was  not  a  bit  of  mail  either  way  for  thirty 
days),  so  that  it  was  not  much  of  a  job,  but  it  threw  me  in 
with  Mr.  Heath,  the  postmaster,  and  he,  having  a  section 
of  land  that  he  had  homesteaded,  about  a  mile  out  of  town 
and  upon  which  no  one  would  live  because  there  was  no 
water,  offered  me  three  lots  if  I  would  build  a  house  and 
dig  a  well.  The  two  boys  I  had  had  with  me  when  I  came 
had  got  work  and  left,  and  there  was  a  carpenter  who  had 
struck  town  with  no  money  and  no  work,  and  I  boarded 
him  for  a  year  to  build  my  house.  I  dug  the  well.  I  got  my 
lumber  from  an  old  fellow  who  owned  a  saw-mill  and 
needed  some  repairs  done  on  his  machinery,  but  had  no 
money.  I  did  the  repairs  and  took  my  pay  in  lumber. 
Two  years  later  I  sold  the  house  and  lots  for  $2,750 
cash. 

Meanwhile  I  worked  in  Weeks's  machine-shop,  and 
one  Saturday  afternoon,  late  in  August,  having  heard  of  a 
place  where  there  were  so  many  grizzly  bears  that  no  one 
dared  to  go  there,  I  started  out  with  two  other  fellows  who 
thought  they  wanted  to  hunt  bears,  reached  the  promised 


Autobiographical  9 

land  well  after  dark,  and  Sunday  morning  started  on  my 
first  bear  hunt.  Looking  back  on  it  now,  I  think  my  idea 
must  have  been  that  hunting  grizzly  bears  was  something 
like  "chumming"  for  fish;  that  all  that  was  necessary 
was  to  go  into  the  hills,  let  one's  scent  blow  down  breeze, 
and  then  shoot  the  ferocious  animals  that  worked  their 
way  up  wind  with  the  intention  of  eating  you. 

At  any  rate  our  inexperience  in  this  kind  of  hunting, 
our  tack  of  caution,  and  our  carelessness  in  making  too 
much  noise,  prevented  us  from  getting  any  grizzlies;  and 
it  spoke  volumes  for  the  number  of  these  animals  then 
roaming  the  hills  that  we  actually,  in  spite  of  our  awk- 
wardness, saw  eleven.  I  did  succeed  in  killing  one  black 
bear,  wounding  another,  and  scaring  several  more  nearly 
to  death  by  rolling  rocks  after  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
it  was  well  on  into  my  second  season  before  I  really  killed 
a  grizzly,  and  although  I  saw  a  great  many  in  my  ex- 
cursions, it  was  also  about  that  long  before  I  realized  that 
the  bear  stories  I  had  heard  were  just  stories.  I  used  to 
go  out  the  last  of  every  week. 

Later,  in  the  first  fall,  having  saved  some  money,  I 
bought  a  half-interest  in  the  shop  from  Mr.  Weeks.  This 
I  did  really  to  have  more  freedom  to  hunt.  After  a  part- 
nership of  five  or  six  months,  the  old  man  gave  me  the 
other  half  of  the  business  to  teach  one  of  his  boys  the 
trade,  and  I  ran  the  shop  till  the  next  summer,  when,  the 
berries  and  grizzlies  being  ripe,  I  took  a  partner  to  look 
after  the  business  while  I  looked  after  bear.  Judging 
from  the  way  he  ran  it,  and  the  number  of  bear  I  got  that 
year,  I  think  it  would  have  been  cheaper  for  me  to  buy  my 
bear.  However,  except  for  three  or  four  months  in  the  fall, 


io  The  Grizzly  Bear 

when  the  hunting  season  was  on,  I  ran  this  shop  until 
1888. 

By  that  time  the  town  had  grown,  I  had  bought  prop- 
erty that  had  increased  in  value,  I  had  got  married,  I  had 
a  home  and  an  income,  and  I  sold  the  blacksmith  shop, 
devoted  myself  to  hunting  grizzlies  and  contracting  for 
the  building  of  houses  in  the  town,  and  soon  had  most  of 
my  means  invested  in  building  materials.  Then,  in  1889, 
came  the  big  Spokane  fire.  It  burned  the  greater  part  of  the 
city,  wiped  out  my  building  materials,  and  as  I  carried  no 
insurance,  came  near  to  wiping  me  out  too;  and  what  the 
fire  only  began,  the  hard  times  that  followed  completed. 

I  now  found  myself  with  an  undiminished  interest  in 
hunting,  and  no  means  to  gratify  my  inclinations.  For  a 
time  I  removed  to  Missoula,  Montana,  worked  in  a  tax- 
idermist's shop  in  the  winter,  and  photographed  and 
hunted  during  the  summer;  but  I  was  soon  to  find  a  more 
congenial  occupation.  I  was,  it  is  needless  to  say,  no 
longer  the  tyro  of  six  years  before.  I  had  long  since 
freed  my  mind  from  the  preconceptions  of  lies  and  legends, 
and  had  worked  out  my  own  hunting  lore  from  my  own 
experience  and  observation.  I  was,  it  is  true,  familiar 
with  only  a  section  of  the  grizzly's  range,  and  had  pene- 
trated but  a  few  hundred  miles  in  either  direction  from 
my  base  of  operations.  But  I  had  always  had  strongly 
developed  what  some  people  call  the  bump  of  locality  and 
direction,  and  what  others  more  poetical  refer  to  as  "the 
sixth  sense  of  the  homing  pigeon."  I  have,  it  seems  to  me 
now,  always  been  at  home  in  the  woods.  I  have  never 
been  in  any  part  of  the  country,  in  any  mountains  or  any 
place,  where  it  was  difficult  for  me  to  find  my  way.  I 


Autobiographical  1 1 

have  never  carried  a  compass,  have  never  slept  away  from 
camp  overnight,  and  have  travelled  three  or  four  hundred 
miles  across  uninhabited  districts  and  come  out  where  I 
wanted  to.  I  soon  found  that  I  had  many  friends  who 
were  anxious  to  hunt,  and  who  were  ready  to  pay  me  to 
take  them  hunting.  These  friends  had  friends.  It  was  not 
long  before  I  turned  what  had  been  my  hobby  into  a  busi- 
ness. Heretofore  I  had  hunted  three  or  four  months  a  year. 
Henceforward  I  was  seldom  that  long  away  from  the  woods. 
And  soon  I  was  familiar  with  every  range  of  mountains 
in  which  the  grizzly  bear  was  found,  from  Mexico  to 
Alaska. 

In  the  beginning,  I  studied  the  grizzly  in  order  to  hunt 
him.  I  marked  his  haunts  and  his  habits,  I  took  notice  of 
his  likes  and  dislikes;  I  learned  his  indifferences  and  his 
fears;  I  spied  upon  the  perfection  of  his  senses  and  the 
limitations  of  his  instincts,  simply  that  I  might  the  better 
slay  him.  For  many  a  year,  and  in  many  a  fastness  of  the 
hills,  I  pitted  my  shrewdness  against  his,  and  my  wariness 
against  his,  and  my  endurance  against  his;  and  many  a 
time  I  came  out  winner  in  the  game,  and  many  a  time  I 
owned  myself  the  loser.  And  then  at  last  my  interest  in 
my  opponent  grew  to  overshadow  my  interest  in  the  game. 
I  had  studied  the  grizzly  to  hunt  him.  I  came  to  hunt  him 
in  order  to  study  him.  I  laid  aside  my  rifle.  It  is  twelve 
years  since  I  have  killed  a  grizzly.  Yet  in  all  those  years 
there  is  not  one  but  what  I  have  spent  some  months  in  his 
company.  And  then  (alas!  that  it  had  not  been  sooner) 
I  undertook  to  photograph  him.  And  finally  I  have  at- 
tempted to  put  into  this  volume  something  of  the  story  of 
the  grizzly  during  the  seventy-five  years  between  his  dis- 


12  The  Grizzly  Bear 

covery  and  my  meeting  with  him;  something  of  my 
personal  adventures  with  him;  and  the  gist  of  my  ob- 
servations of  his  habits  and  of  my  opinions  of  his 
nature. 


II 

EARLY  HISTORY— LEWIS  AND  CLARK 

THE  history  of  the  grizzly  bear  differs  from  that  of  all 
the  other  great  beasts  that  have  come  into  close 
contact  with  civilization.  The  story  of  the  others  begins 
with  our  beginnings.  The  lion  and  the  tiger  have  been 
always  with  us.  They  helped  to  rock  the  cradle  of  the 
race,  and  lunched  occasionally  from  its  contents.  When 
we  were  cave  men,  we  barred  them  from  the  mouths  of 
our  caves,  and  drew  pictures  of  them  on  the  walls.  Later, 
we  charred  the  ends  of  sharpened  sticks  in  our  fires,  and 
with  these  drove  them  into  the  jungle.  We  and  they 
have  grown  up  together. 

But  the  first  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  grizzly  is  the 
beginning  of  the  story's  end.  When  my  grandfather  was 
born,  the  grizzly  had  never  been  heard  of.  If  my  grand- 
son ever  sees  one,  it  will  likely  be  in  the  bear  pit  of  a  zoolog- 
ical garden. 

The  actual  history  of  the  grizzly  bear  begins  on  April 
29,  1805,  when,  on  the  banks  of  the  upper  Missouri,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  River,  in  what  is  now  Mon- 
tana, Captain  Meriwether  Lewis,  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark 
Expedition,  met  one  of  these  animals  for  the  first  time. 

Before  this,  indeed,  hints  and  rumors  of  a  bear  different 
from  the  Eastern  variety  had  come  back  to  civilization 

13 


14  The  Grizzly  Bear 

with  returning  traders  and  explorers.  Edward  Umfre- 
ville,  writing  in  1790  upon  "The  Present  State  of  Hudson's 
Bay,"  had  heard  of  them.  In  summing  up  the  fauna  of 
the  North  and  West,  he  says:  "Bears  are  of  three  kinds: 
the  black,  the  red,  and  the  grizzle  bear."  But  he  goes  no 
further  than  to  add,  in  regard  to  the  two  latter,  that,  "their 
nature  is  savage  and  ferocious,  their  power  dangerous,  and 
their  haunts  to  be  guarded  against." 

Sir  Alexander  MacKenzie,  the  explorer,  during  his 
second  voyage,  on  May  13,  1795,  mentions  seeing  bear 
tracks  on  the  banks  of  the  Peace  River,  some  of  which 
were  nine  inches  wide.  He  says,  "The  Indians  entertain 
great  apprehension  of  this  kind  of  bear,  which  is  called 
the  grisly  bear,  and  they  never  venture  to  attack  it  except 
in  a  party  of  at  least  three  or  four."  He  never,  however, 
seems  to  have  seen  one,  nor  does  he  describe  it. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only  entered 
in  their  journals  full  accounts  of  their  various  encounters 
with  these  animals,  but  made  inquiries  about  them  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  regions  where  they  were  found,  and 
took  in  them  not  only  the  interest  of  the  fur  trader  and 
the  hunter,  but  that  of  the  naturalist.  Moreover,  for 
nearly  fifty  years  these  field  notes  of  theirs  were  the  chief, 
if  not  the  only,  source  of  information  regarding  these 
animals.  Here  and  there,  during  that  period,  in  the  works 
of  scientific  writers  upon  natural  history,  an  original 
observation,  or  an  authenticated  report  of  such  observa- 
tions, appears.  But  for  the  most  part  everything  outside 
the  categories  of  frank  romance  or  alleged  adventure  that 
found  its  way  into  print,  was  an  unblushing  rehash  or  an 
unwarranted  elaboration  of  their  statements. 


Early  History — Lewis  and  Clark  15 

Their  note  of  April  29,  1805,  is  as  follows: 
"Captain  Lewis,  who  was  on  shore  with  one  hunter, 
met,  about  eight  o'clock,  two  white  bears.  Of  the  strength 
and  ferocity  of  this  animal  the  Indians  had  given  us  dread- 
ful accounts.  They  never  attack  him  but  in  parties  of 
six  or  eight  persons,  and  even  then  are  often  defeated  with 
a  loss  of  one  or  more  of  their  party.  Having  no  weapons 
but  bows  and  arrows,  and  the  bad  guns  with  which  the 
traders  supply  them,  they  are  obliged  to  approach  very 
near  to  the  bear.  As  no  wound,  except  through  the  head 
or  heart,  is  mortal,  they  frequently  fall  a  sacrifice  if  they 
miss  their  aim.  He  rather  attacks  than  avoids  a  man, 
and  such  is  the  terror  which  he  has  inspired,  that  the 
Indians  who  go  in  quest  of  him  paint  themselves  and  per- 
form all  the  superstitious  rites  customary  when  they  make 
war  on  a  neighboring  nation. 

"Hitherto,  those  bears  we  had  seen  did  not  appear 
desirous  of  encountering  us;  but  although  to  a  skilful 
rifleman  the  danger  is  very  much  diminished,  yet  the 
white  bear  is  a  terrible  animal.  On  approaching  these 
two,  both  Captain  Lewis  and  the  hunter  fired  and  each 
wounded  a  bear.  One  of  them  made  his  escape.  The 
other  turned  upon  Captain  Lewis  and  pursued  him  seventy 
or  eighty  yards,  but  being  badly  wounded  the  bear  could 
not  run  so  fast  as  to  prevent  him  from  reloading  his  piece, 
which  he  again  aimed  at  him,  and  a  third  shot  from  the 
hunter  brought  him  to  the  ground.  He  was  a  male,  not 
quite  full-grown,  and  weighed  about  three  hundred 
pounds.  The  legs  are  somewhat  longer  than  those  of  the 
black  bear  and  the  talons  and  tusks  much  longer.  Its 
color  is  a  yellowish  brown;  the  eyes  are  small,  black,  and 


1 6  The  Grizzly  Bear 

piercing;  the  front  of  the  fore  legs  near  the  feet  is  usually 
black,  and  the  fur  is  finer,  thicker,  and  deeper  than  that 
of  the  black  bear;  add  to  which  it  is  a  more  furious 
animal  and  very  remarkable  for  the  wounds  which  it  will 
bear  without  dying." 

Thus  reads  the  first  account  of  a  meeting  between  a 
white  man  and  a  grizzly. 

I  quote  at  length  from  Lewis  and  Clark  on  this  subject, 
not  only  because  their  notes  are  interesting,  accurate,  and 
instructive  in  themselves,  but  because,  while  they  are 
scattered  through  the  pages  of  a  voluminous  and  un- 
familiar report,  a  first-hand  acquaintance  with  them  is, 
in  their  field,  the  beginning  of  knowledge.  On  May  6, 
following,  the  record  proceeds: 

"  Captain  Clark  and  one  of  the  hunters  met  this  evening 
the  largest  brown  bear  we  have  seen.  As  they  fired  he 
did  not  attempt  to  attack,  but  fled  with  a  most  tremendous 
roar;  and  such  was  his  extraordinary  tenacity  of  life  that, 
although  five  balls  passed  through  his  lungs,  and  he  had 
five  other  wounds,  he  swam  more  than  half  across  the 
river  to  a  sand  bar  and  survived  twenty  minutes.  He 
weighed  between  five  hundred  and  six  hundred  pounds 
at  least,  and  measured  at  least  eight  feet  seven  and  a 
half  inches  from  the  nose  to  the  extremity  of  the  hind 
feet,  five  feet  ten  and  a  half  inches  around  the  breast, 
three  feet  eleven  inches  around  the  neck,  one  foot  eleven 
inches  around  the  middle  of  the  fore  leg,  and  his  talons, 
five  on  each  foot,  were  four  and  three-eighth  inches  in 
length.  This  differs  from  the  common  black  bear  in  hav- 
ing its  talons  longer  and  more  blunt;  its  tail  shorter;  its 
hair  of  a  reddish  or  bay  brown,  longer,  finer,  and  more 


Early  History — Lewis  and  Clark  17 

abundant;  his  liver,  lungs,  and  heart  much  larger  even  in 
proportion  to  his  size,  the  heart  being  equal  to  that  of  a 
large  ox;  his  maw  ten  times  larger.  Besides  fish  and  flesh 
he  feeds  on  roots  and  every  kind  of  wild  fruit." 

May  n,  1805.  "About  five  in  the  afternoon  one  of 
our  men  (Bratton),  who  had  been  afflicted  with  boils  and 
suffered  to  walk  on  shore,  came  running  to  the  boats  with 
loud  cries  and  every  symptom  of  terror  and  distress.  For 
some  time  after  we  had  taken  him  on  board  he  was  so 
much  out  of  breath  as  to  be  unable  to  describe  the  cause 
of  his  anxiety;  but  he  at  length  told  us  that  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  below  he  had  shot  a  brown  bear,  which  had 
immediately  turned  and  was  in  close  pursuit  of  him;  but 
the  bear,  being  badly  wounded,  could  not  overtake  him. 
Captain  Lewis,  with  seven  men,  immediately  went  in 
search  of  him;  having  found  his  track,  followed  him  by 
the  blood  for  a  mile,  found  him  concealed  in  some  thick 
brushwood  and  shot  him  with  two  balls  through  the  skull. 
Though  somewhat  smaller  than  that  killed  a  few  days 
ago,  he  was  a  monstrous  animal  and  a  most  terrible 
enemy.  Our  man  shot  him  through  the  centre  of  the 
lungs,  yet  he  had  pursued  him  furiously  for  half  a  mile, 
then  returned  more  than  twice  that  distance,  and  with  his 
talons  prepared  himself  a  bed  in  the  earth  two  feet  deep 
and  five  feet  long;  he  was  perfectly  alive  when  they  found 
him,  which  was  at  least  two  hours  after  he  had  received 
the  wound.  The  wonderful  power  of  life  which  these 
animals  possess  renders  them  dreadful;  their  very  track  in 
the  mud  or  sand,  which  we  have  sometimes  found  eleven 
inches  long  and  seven  and  one-fourth  inches  wide,  ex- 
clusive of  the  talons,  is  alarming;  and  we  had  rather 


1 8  The  Grizzly  Bear 

encounter  two  Indians  than  meet  a  single  brown  bear. 
There  is  no  chance  of  killing  them  by  a  single  shot  unless 
the  ball  goes  through  the  brain,  and  this  is  very  difficult 
on  account  of  two  large  muscles  which  cover  the  side  of 
the  forehead  and  the  sharp  projection  of  the  centre  of 
the  frontal  bone,  which  is  also  thick." 

May  14,  1805.  "Toward  evening  the  men  in  the 
hindmost  canoes  discovered  a  large  brown  bear  lying  in  the 
open  grounds  about  three  hundred  paces  from  the  river. 
Six  of  them,  all  good  hunters,  immediately  went  to  attack 
him,  and  concealing  themselves  by  a  small  eminence,  came 
unperceived  within  forty  paces  of  him.  Four  of  the  hunters 
now  fired  and  each  lodged  a  ball  in  his  body,  two  of  them 
directly  through  the  lungs.  The  furious  animal  sprang 
up  and  ran  open-mouthed  upon  them.  As  he  came  near, 
the  two  hunters  who  had  reserved  their  fire  gave  him  two 
wounds,  one  of  which,  breaking  his  shoulder,  retarded  his 
motion  for  a  moment;  but  before  they  could  reload  he 
was  so  near  that  they  were  obliged  to  run  to  the  river,  and 
before  they  reached  it  he  had  almost  overtaken  them. 
Two  jumped  into  the  canoe,  the  other  four  separated,  and 
concealing  themselves  in  the  willows,  fired  as  fast  as  each 
could  reload.  They  struck  him  several  times,  but  instead 
of  weakening  the  monster,  each  shot  seemed  only  to  direct 
him  toward  the  hunter;  till  at  last  he  pursued  two  of  them 
so  closely  that  they  threw  aside  their  guns  and  pouches 
and  jumped  down  a  perpendicular  bank  of  twenty  feet 
into  the  river.  The  bear  sprang  after  them,  and  was  within 
a  few  feet  of  the  hindmost  when  one  of  the  hunters  on 
shore  shot  him  in  the  head  and  finally  killed  him.  They 
dragged  him  to  the  shore  and  found  that  eight  balls  had 


Early  History — Lewis  and  Clark  19 

passed  through  him  in  different  directions.  The  bear  was 
old  and  the  meat  tough,  so  that  they  took  the  skin  only." 

May  22,  1805.  "We  have  not  seen  in  this  quarter 
[since  passing  the  Muscle  Shell]  the  black  bear  common  in 
the  United  States,  and  on  the  lower  parts  of  the  Missouri, 
nor  have  we  discerned  any  of  their  tracks.  They  may 
easily  be  distinguished  by  the  shortness  of  the  talons  from 
the  brown,  grizzly,  or  white  bear,  all  of  which  seem  to  be 
of  the  same  family,  which  assumes  those  colors  at  different 
seasons  of  the  year." 

June  12,  1805.  On  coming  out  to  the  Missouri  River 
from  an  expedition  inland,  they  this  day  saw  two  large 
brown  bears  and  killed  them  both  at  the  first  fire — "a 
circumstance  which  has  never  before  occurred  since  we 
have  seen  that  animal." 

June  14,  1805,  at  the  Falls  of  the  Missouri.  "Captain 
Lewis  met  a  herd  of  at  least  one  thousand  buffalo,  and 
being  desirous  of  providing  for  supper,  shot  one  of  them. 
The  animal  immediately  began  to  bleed,  and  Captain  Lewis, 
who  had  forgotten  to  reload  his  rifle,  was  intently  watching 
to  see  him  fall,  when  he  beheld  a  large  brown  bear,  which 
was  stealing  on  him  unperceived  and  was  already  within 
twenty  steps.  In  the  first  moment  of  surprise  he  lifted 
his  rifle,  but  remembering  instantly  that  it  was  not  charged 
and  that  he  had  no  time  to  reload,  he  felt  that  there  was  no 
safety  but  in  flight.  It  was  in  the  open,  level  plain — not  a 
bush  or  a  tree  within  three  hundred  yards,  the  bank  of  the 
river  sloping  and  not  more  than  three  feet  high,  so  that 
there  was  no  possible  mode  of  concealment.  Captain  Lewis 
therefore  thought  of  retreating  in  a  quick  walk,  as  fast 
as  the  bear  advanced,  toward  the  nearest  tree;  but  as  soon 


2O  The  Grizzly  Bear 

as  he  turned,  the  bear  ran  open-mouthed  and  at  full  speed 
upon  him.  Captain  Lewis  ran  about  eighty  yards,  but 
finding  that  the  animal  gained  on  him  fast,  it  flashed  on  his 
mind  that,  by  getting  into  the  water  to  such  a  depth  that 
the  bear  would  be  obliged  to  attack  him  swimming,  there 
was  still  some  chance  of  his  life;  he  therefore  turned  short, 
plunged  into  the  river  about  waist  deep,  and  facing  about, 
presented  the  point  of  his  espontoon.  The  bear  arrived 
at  the  water's  edge  within  twenty  feet  of  him;  but  as 
soon  as  he  put  himself  in  this  posture  of  defence,  the  bear 
seemed  frightened,  and  wheeling  about,  retreated  with  as 
much  precipitation  as  he  had  pursued.  Very  glad  to  be 
released  from  this  danger,  Captain  Lewis  returned  to  the 
shore,  and  observed  him  run  with  great  speed,  sometimes 
looking  back  as  if  he  expected  to  be  pursued,  till  he 
reached  the  woods.  He  could  not  conceive  the  cause  of 
the  sudden  alarm  of  the  bear,  but  congratulated  himself 
on  his  escape  when  he  saw  his  own  track  torn  to  pieces 
by  the  furious  animal,  and  learned  from  the  whole 
adventure  never  to  suffer  his  rifle  to  be  a  moment  un- 
loaded." 

June  20,  1805.  "One  of  the  men,  who  was  sent  a  short 
distance  from  the  camp  to  bring  home  some  meat,  was 
attacked  by  a  white  bear,  closely  pursued  within  forty 
paces  of  the  camp,  and  narrowly  escaped  being  caught. 
Captain  Clark  immediately  went  with  three  men  in  quest  of 
the  bear,  which  he  was  afraid  might  surprise  another  of 
the  hunters  who  was  out  collecting  the  game.  The  bear 
was,  however,  too  quick,  for  before  Captain  Clark  could 
reach  the  man,  the  bear  had  attacked  him  and  compelled 
him  to  take  refuge  in  the  water.  He  now  ran  off  as  they 


Early  History — Lewis  and  Clark  21 

approached,  and  it  being  late,  they  deferred  pursuing 
him  till  the  next  morning." 

June  27, 1805.  "As  the  men  were  hunting  on  the  river, 
they  saw  a  low  ground  covered  with  thick  brushwood, 
where,  from  the  tracks  along  shore,  they  thought  a  bear 
had  probably  taken  refuge.  They  therefore  landed  with- 
out making  a  noise  and  climbed  a  tree  about  twenty  feet 
above  the  ground.  Having  fixed  themselves  securely 
they  raised  a  loud  shout  and  a  bear  instantly  rushed 
toward  them.  These  animals  never  climb,  and  therefore, 
when  he  came  to  the  tree  and  stopped  to  look  at  them, 
Drewyer  shot  him  in  the  head.  He  proved  to  be  the  larg- 
est we  had  yet  seen.  His  nose  appeared  to  be  like  that  of 
a  common  ox,  his  forefeet  measured  nine  inches  across, 
the  hind  feet  were  seven  inches  wide  and  eleven  and  three- 
quarters  long,  exclusive  of  the  talons.  One  of  these  ani- 
mals came  within  thirty  yards  of  the  camp  last  night  and 
carried  off  some  buffalo  meat  which  we  placed  on  a  pole." 

June  28,  1805.  "The  white  bears  have  now  become 
exceedingly  troublesome,  they  constantly  infest  our  camp 
during  the  night,  and  though  they  have  not  attacked  us, 
as  our  dog,  which  patrols  all  night,  gives  us  notice  of  their 
approach,  yet  we  are  obliged  to  sleep  with  our  arms  by 
our  sides  for  fear  of  accident,  and  we  cannot  send  one 
man  alone  to  any  distance,  particularly  if  he  has  to  pass 
through  brushwood." 

May  13,  1806,  near  the  Kooskooskee  River.  "The 
hunters  killed  ...  a  male  and  female  bear,  the  first  of 
which  was  large,  fat,  and  of  a  bay  color,  the  second,  mea- 
gre, grizzly,  and  of  smaller  size.  They  were  of  the  species 
common  to  the  upper  part  of  the  Missouri  and  might  well 


22  The  Grizzly  Bear 

be  termed  the  variegated  bear,  for  they  are  found  occa- 
sionally of  a  black,  grizzly,  brown,  or  red  color.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  them  to  be  of  precisely  the  same 
species.  Those  of  different  colors  are  killed  together,  as 
in  the  case  of  these  two,  as  we  found  a  white  and  bay 
associated  together  on  the  Missouri;  and  some  nearly 
white  were  seen  in  this  neighborhood  by  the  hunters. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  common  to  find  any  two  bears  of  the 
same  color,  and  if  the  difference  in  color  were  to  constitute 
a  distinction  of  species,  the  number  would  increase  to 
almost  twenty.  Soon  afterward  the  hunters  killed  a  female 
bear  with  two  cubs.  The  mother  was  black  with  a  consid- 
erable intermixture  of  white  hairs  and  a  white  spot  on  the 
breast,  One  of  the  cubs  was  jet  black  and  the  other  of  a 
light  reddish-brown  or  bay  color.  The  poil  of  these  vare- 
gated  bears  is  much  finer,  longer,  and  more  abundant 
than  that  of  the  common  black  bear,  but  the  most  striking 
differences  between  them  are  that  the  former  are  larger 
and  have  longer  tusks,  and  longer  as  well  as  blunter 
talons,  that  they  prey  more  on  other  animals,  that  they  lie 
neither  so  long  nor  so  closely  in  winter  quarters,  and  that 
they  never  climb  trees,  however  closely  pressed  by  the 
hunters.  These  variegated  bears,  though  specifically  the 
same  with  those  we  met  on  the  Missouri,  are  by  no  means 
so  ferocious,  probably  because  the  scarcity  of  game  and 
habit  of  living  on  roots  may  have  weaned  them  from  the 
practice  of  attacking  and  devouring  animals.  Still,  how- 
ever, they  are  not  so  passive  as  the  common  black  bear, 
which  is  also  to  be  found  here,  for  they  have  already 
fought  with  our  hunters,  though  with  less  fury  than  those 
on  the  other  side  of  the  mountain." 


Early  History — Lewis  and  Clark  23 

May  31,  1806.  (On  one  of  the  upper  branches  of  the 
Columbia  River.)  "Two  men  visited  the  Indian  village, 
where  they  purchased  a  dressed  bearskin,  of  a  uniform 
pale  reddish-brown  color,  which  the  Indians  called 
yackahy  in  contradistinction  to  hohhost,  or  white  bear. 
This  remark  induced  us  to  inquire  more  particularly  into 
their  opinions  as  to  the  several  species  of  bears;  we  there- 
fore produced  all  the  skins  of  that  animal  which  we  had 
killed  at  this  place,  and  also  one  very  nearly  white  which 
we  had  purchased.  The  natives  immediately  classed  the 
white,  the  deep  and  the  pale  grizzly-red,  the  grizzly  dark 
brown,  in  short,  all  those  with  the  extremities  of  the  hair 
of  a  white  or  frosty  color,  without  regard  to  the  color  of 
the  ground  of  the  poil,  under  the  name  of  hohhost.  They 
assured  us  that  they  were  all  of  the  same  species  with  the 
white  bear;  that  they  associated  together,  had  longer 
nails  than  the  others,  and  never  climb  trees.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  black  skins,  those  which  were  black  with 
a  number  of  entirely  white  hairs  intermixed,  or  with  a 
white  breast,  the  uniform  bay,  the  brown,  and  light  red- 
dish-brown, were  ranged  under  the  class  yackah,  and 
were  said  to  resemble  each  other  in  being  smaller,  in  hav- 
ing shorter  nails  than  the  white  bears,  in  climbing  trees, 
and  being  so  little  vicious  that  they  could  be  pursued 
with  safety.  This  distinction  of  the  Indians  seems  to  be 
well  founded,  and  we  are  inclined  to  believe:  First,  that 
the  white,  grizzly,  etc.,  bear  of  this  neighborhood  forms 
a  distinct  species,  which,  moreover,  is  the  same  with  that 
of  the  same  color  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Missouri,  where 
the  other  species  is  not  found;  second,  that  the  black, 
reddish-brown,  etc.,  is  a  second  species,  equally  distinct 


24  The  Grizzly  Bear 

from  the  white  bear  of  this  country  and  from  the  black 
bear  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  which  two  last 
seemed  to  form  only  one  species.  The  common  black 
bear  is  indeed  unknown  in  this  country,  for  the  bear  of 
which  we  are  speaking,  though  in  most  respects  similar, 
differs  from  it  in  having  much  finer,  thicker,  and  longer 
hair,  with  a  greater  proportion  of  fur  mixed  with  it,  and 
also  in  having  a  variety  of  colors,  while  the  common  black 
bear  has  no  intermixture  or  change  of  color,  but  is  of  a 
uniform  black." 

It  may  here  be  noted  that  scientific  naturalists,  in  their 
latest  classifications  of  bears,  while  upholding  Lewis  and 
Clark  in  their  surmises  regarding  the  grizzlies,  overrule 
them  in  their  assumption  that  the  other  "  black,  brown, 
etc.,  bear"  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  regions  form  a  differ- 
ent species  from  the  common  black  bear. 

July  15,  1806.  At  the  Falls  of  the  Missouri  again. 
"At  night  McNeal,  who  had  been  sent  in  the  morning  to 
examine  the  cache  at  the  lower  end  of  the  portage,  re- 
turned, but  had  been  prevented  from  reaching  that  place 
by  a  singular  adventure.  Just  as  he  arrived  near  Willow 
Run,  he  approached  a  thicket  of  brush,  in  which  was  a 
white  bear,  which  he  did  not  discover  till  he  was  within 
ten  feet  of  him.  His  horse  started  and  wheeled  suddenly 
round,  throwing  McNeal  almost  immediately  under  the 
bear,  which  started  up  instantly.  Finding  the  bear  rais- 
ing himself  on  his  hind  feet  to  attack  him,  he  struck  him 
on  the  head  with  the  butt  end  of  his  musket;  the  blow  was 
so  violent  that  it  broke  the  breach  of  the  musket  and 
knocked  the  bear  to  the  ground.  Before  he  recovered 
McNeal,  seeing  a  willow  tree  close  by,  sprang  up  and 


Early  History — Lewis  and  Clark  25 

there  remained,  while  the  bear  closely  guarded  the  foot  of 
the  tree  until  late  in  the  afternoon.  He  then  went  off; 
McNeal  being  released  came  down,  and  having  found  his 
horse,  which  had  strayed  off  to  the  distance  of  two  miles, 
returned  to  camp." 


HI 

FOLLOWERS  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK 

\  LTHOUGH  the  grizzly  bear  was  thus  discovered  by 
-/  JL  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1805,  these  explorers  did  not 
return  to  civilization  until  1807,  and  even  then  their 
zoloogical  records  were  not  promptly  worked  up.  It  was 
not,  therefore,  until  1814  that  any  naturalist  gave  even 
tentative  recognition  to  the  discovery  thus  made.  In  that 
year,  on  the  4th  of  May,  in  his  introductory  address  before 
the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  York, 
Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  speaking  of  the  work  which  lay 
open  to  the  coming  naturalists  of  the  country,  referred  to 
"the  white,  brown,  or  grizzly  bear,  the  ferocious  tyrant  of 
the  American  woods,"  and  spoke  of  it  as  "a  nonde- 
script, and  a  distinct  animal  from  the  polar  bear,  with 
which  it  is  confounded."  It  ranged,  he  said,  the  country 
along  the  Missouri  River  where  "it  exists,  the  terror  of  the 
savages,  the  tyrant  of  all  other  animals,  devouring  alike 
man  and  beast  and  defying  the  attack  of  whole  tribes  of 
Indians."  He  then  proceeded  to  call  attention  to  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Delaware  and  Mohican  Indians,  in  regard 
to  the  Great  Naked  Bear,  which  they  believed  to  have 
once  inhabited  the  territories  of  New  York  State,  and  to  • 
suggest  that  the  bear  of  this  Indian  legend  was  identical 

26 


Followers  of  Lewis  and  Clark  27 

with  the  grizzly.  From  another  part  of  the  transactions 
of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  York, 
I  quote  a  curious  version  of  this  Indian  legend.  The  re- 
port runs:  "that  among  all  animals  that  had  been  for- 
merly in  this  country  this  was  the  most  ferocious;  that  it 
was  the  largest  of  the  common  bears  and  remarkably  long 
bodied.  All  over  (except  a  spot  of  hair  on  its  back  of  a 
white  color)  naked.  That  it  attacked  and  devoured  man 
and  beast,  and  that  a  man  or  a  common  bear  only  served 
for  one  meal  for  one  of  these  animals;  that  with  its  teeth 
it  could  crack  the  strongest  bones;  that  it  could  not  see 
very  well,  but  in  discovering  its  prey  by  scent  it  exceeded 
all  other  animals;  that  it  pursued  its  prey  with  unremit- 
ting ravenousness,  and  that  there  was  no  other  way  of 
escape  but  by  taking  to  a  river,  and  either  swimming 
down  the  same  or  saving  one's  self  by  means  of  a  canoe; 
that  its  heart  being  remarkably  small,  it  could  seldom  be 
killed  with  an  arrow;  that  the  surest  way  of  destroying 
him  was  to  break  its  backbone;  that  when  a  party  went 
out  to  destroy  this  animal  they  first  took  leave  of  their 
friends  and  relations  at  home,  considering  themselves  as 
going  on  an  expedition,  perhaps  never  to  return  again; 
that  when  out  they  sought  for  his  track,  carefully  attend- 
ing to  the  course  the  wind  blew  and  endeavoring  to  keep 
as  near  as  possible  to  a  river;  that  every  man  of  the  party 
knew  at  what  part  of  the  body  he  was  to  take  his  aim; 
that  some  were  to  strike  at  the  backbone,  some  at  the 
head,  and  others  at  the  heart;  that  the  last  of  these  animals 
known  of  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mohicanni  Sipu 
(Hudson's  River)  where,  after  devouring  several  Indians 
that  were  tilling  their  ground,  a  resolute  party,  well  pro- 


28  The  Grizzly  Bear 

vided  with  bows,  arrows,  etc.,  fell  upon  the  following  plan, 
in  which  they  also  succeeded,  viz. :  Knowing  of  a  large, 
high  rock,  perpendicular  on  all  sides  and  level  on  the  top, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  where  the  naked  bear  kept,  they 
made  ladders  (Indian  ladders),  and  placing  these  at  the 
rock,  they  reconnoitred  the  ground  around,  and  soon 
finding  a  fresh  track  of  the  animal  they  hastily  returned, 
getting  on  top  of  the  rock  and  drawing  the  ladders  up 
after  them.  They  then  set  up  a  cry  similar  to  that  of 
a  child,  whereupon  this  animal  made  its  way  thither  and 
attempted  to  climb  the  rock,  the  Indians  pouring  down 
their  arrows  in  different  directions,  all  the  while  upon  him. 
The  animal  now  grew  very  much  enraged,  biting  with  its 
teeth  against  the  rock  and  attempting  to  tear  it  with  its 
claws  until  at  last  they  had  conquered  it." 

The  next  mention  made  of  the  new  bear  occurs  the 
following  year,  in  1815,  in  the  second  American  edition 
of  Guthrie's  Geography  where,  upon  information  fur- 
nished by  Brackenridge  from  the  Lewis  and  Clark  journal, 
George  Ord,  the  naturalist,  described  and  formally  named 
the  grizzly  bear. 

There  were  two  words,  similar  in  sound,  but  differing 
in  signification,  which  had  been  impartially  applied  to 
this  animal;  one  of  them  was  grisly,  and  means  "savage- 
looking,  fear-inspiring,  terrible,  horrid";  the  other  was 
grizzly,  and  means  "grayish,  or  somewhat  gray."  If  one 
may  judge  from  the  context  of  Lewis  and  Clark's  notes, 
they  used  the  latter  word  with  the  latter  meaning,  but 
Ord  evidently  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the  first  word 
had  been  used  both  with  reason  and  intent,  and  he  there- 
fore gave  to  this  species  the  name  of  Ursus  horribilis. 


Followers  of  Lewis  and  Clark  29 

Numerous  other  naturalists  during  the  succeeding 
years  suggested  other  names  for  the  grizzly,  such  as 
Ursus  ferox  (De  Witt  Clinton),  Ursus  candescens  (Hamilton 
Smith),  Ursus  cinereus  (Richard  Harlan).  It  being,  how- 
ever, a  well-established  rule  that  the  name  first  given  to  a 
new  species  by  its  scientific  classifier  shall  be  retained,  the 
grizzly  bear  is  known  to  science  as  Ursus  horribilis;  and, 
it  being  also  customary  to  add  to  the  Latin  name  of  any 
animal  the  name  of  the  scientist  who  first  formally  de- 
scribed and  named  it,  the  Rocky  Mountain  grizzly  is 
specifically  known  as  Ursus  horribilis  Ord. 

Mr.  Ord,  quoting  Mr.  Brackenridge  as  his  authority, 
says: 

"This  animal  is  the  monarch  of  the  country  which  he 
inhabits.  The  African  lion  or  the  tiger  of  Bengal  are  not 
more  terrible  or  fierce.  He  is  the  enemy  of  man  and  liter- 
ally thirsts  for  human  blood.  So  far  from  shunning,  he 
seldom  fails  to  attack  and  even  to  hunt  him.  The  Indi- 
ans make  war  upon  these  ferocious  monsters  with  the 
same  ceremonies  as  they  do  upon  a  tribe  of  their  own 
species,  and,  in  the  recital  of  their  victories,  the  death  of 
one  of  them  gives  the  warrior  greater  renown  than  the 
scalp  of  a  human  enemy.  He  possesses  an  amazing 
strength,  and  attacks  without  hesitation  and  tears  to 
pieces  the  largest  buffalo.  The  color  is  usually  such  as 
the  name  indicates,  although  there  are  varieties  from 
black  to  silvery  whiteness.  In  shape  he  differs  from  the 
common  black  bear  in  being  proportionately  more 
long  and  lank.  He  does  not  climb  trees,  a  circum- 
stance which  enables  hunters,  when  attacked,  to  make 
their  escape." 


30  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Dr.  D.  B.  Warden,  in  his  "Account  of  the  United  States 
of  North  America,"  published  in  1819,  refers  to  the  grizzly 
bear,  but,  apart  from  quoting  some  passages  from  Lewis 
and  Clark,  only  adds  that "  the  fur  is  employed  for  muffs  and 
tippets,  and  the  skins  bring  from  twenty  to  fifty  dollars." 

D.  W.  Harmon,  in  his  "Journal  of  Voyages  and 
Travels  in  the  Interior  of  North  America,"  published  in 
1820,  refers  to  the  grizzly  bear  as  "the  gray  bear,"  but 
does  not,  except  in  color,  size,  and  strength,  greatly  dis- 
tinguish them  from  "the  brown  or  chocolate  color,  and 
those  that  are  perfectly  black."  He  refers  to  an  occasional 
bear  "the  color  of  a  white  sheep." 

In  1823  there  was  published  "The  Account  of  an  Ex- 
pedition from  Pittsburgh  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  Per- 
formed in  the  Years  1819  and  1820,  by  Order  of  the  Hon- 
orable J.  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War.  Under  Command 
of  Major  Stephen  H.  Long.  Compiled  by  Edwin  James 
from  the  Notes  of  Major  Long,  Mr.  T.  Say,  and  Other 
Gentlemen  of  the  Exploring  Party."  Mr.  T.  Say,  here 
mentioned,  was  the  eminent  naturalist,  and  his  detailed 
scientific  description  and  measurements  of  a  half-grown 
grizzly  shot  by  the  party  is  printed  in  a  foot-note  on 
Page  53.  They  saw  a  number  of  grizzlies,  but  seem  to 
have  succeeded  in  giving  them  a  wide  berth.  They  met  a 
number  of  Indians  wearing  necklaces  and  other  orna- 
ments made  of  the  claws  of  the  grizzly,  and  mentioned 
seeing  and  playing  with  a  young  bear  of  this  species  which 
was  chained  in  the  court  of  the  Missouri  Fur  Company, 
near  Engineer  Cantonment.  They  quote  freely  from 
Lewis  and  Clark,  and  in  their  turn  add  several  anecdotes, 
which  are  afterward  repeatedly  quoted  by  others. 


Followers  of  Lewis  and  Clark  31 

Richard  Harlan,  in  his  "Fauna  Americana,"  pub- 
lished in  1825,  refers  to  the  grizzly  as  Ursus  dnereus,  but 
does  nothing  more  than  quote  from  his  predecessors. 

The  following  year,  however,  in  Godman's  "Natural 
History,"  we  come  upon  an  interesting  document.  The 
author,  after  saying  that  the  grizzly  bear  "slaughters  in- 
discriminately every  creature  whose  speed  or  artifice  is 
not  sufficient  to  place  them  beyond  his  reach,"  mentions 
two  grizzly  bear  cubs  that  had,  some  time  before,  been 
kept  alive  in  the  menagerie  of  Peale's  (afterward  the 
Philadelphia)  Museum.  "When  first  received,  they  were 
quite  small,  but  speedily  gave  indications  of  that  ferocity 
for  which  this  species  is  so  remarkable.  As  they  increased 
in  size  they  became  exceedingly  dangerous,  seizing  and 
tearing  to  pieces  every  animal  they  could  lay  hold  of,  and 
expressing  great  eagerness  to  get  at  those  accidentally 
brought  within  sight  of  their  cage  by  grasping  the  iron 
bars  with  their  paws  and  shaking  them  violently,  to  the 
great  terror  of  spectators,  who  felt  insecure  while  witness- 
ing such  displays  of  their  strength.  In  one  instance  an 
unfortunate  monkey  was  walking  over  the  top  of  their 
cage,  when  the  end  of  the  chain  which  hung  from  his 
waist  dropped  through  within  reach  of  the  bears;  they 
immediately  seized  it,  dragged  the  screaming  animal 
through  the  narrow  aperture,  tore  him  limb  from  limb, 
and  devoured  his  mangled  carcass  almost  instantaneously. 
At  another  time  a  small  monkey  thrust  his  arm  through 
an  opening  in  the  bear  cage  to  reach  after  some  object; 
one  of  them  immediately  seized  him,  and  with  a  sudden 
jerk  tore  the  whole  arm  and  shoulder-blade  from  the  body 
and  devoured  it  before  any  one  could  interfere.  They 


32  The  Grizzly  Bear 

were  still  cubs  and  very  little  more  than  half  grown  when 
their  ferocity  became  so  alarming  as  to  excite  continual 
apprehension  lest  they  should  escape,  and  they  were 
killed  to  prevent  such  an  event." 

He  then  quotes  the  following  letter  from  Lieutenant 
Zebulon  M.  Pike,  addressed  to  President  Jefferson,  re- 
ferring to  these  cubs,  and  throwing  a  curious  side  light 
upon  their  ferocity. 

WASHINGTON,  February  3,  1808. 

SIR:  I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  note  last  evening,  and 
in  reply  to  the  inquiries  of  Mr.  Peale  can  only  give  the  following 
notes :  The  bears  were  taken  by  an  Indian  in  the  mountains  which 
divide  the  large  western  branch  of  the  Rio  del  Norte  and  some 
small  rivers  which  discharge  their  waters  into  the  east  side  of  the 
Gulf  of  California,  near  the  dividing  line  between  the  provinces  of 
Biscay  and  Sonora.  ,  We  .  .  .  purchased  them  of  the  savages, 
and  for  three  or  four  days  I  made  my  men  carry  them  in  their  laps 
on  horseback.  As  they  would  eat  nothing  but  milk  they  were  in 
danger  of  starving.  I  then  had  a  cage  prepared  for  both,  which 
was  carried  on  a  mule,  lashed  between  two  packs,  but  always 
ordered  them  to  be  let  out  the  moment  we  halted,  and  not  shut 
up  again  before  we  were  prepared  to  march.  By  this  treatment, 
they  became  exceedingly  docile,  when  at  liberty  following  my 
men  (whom  they  learned  to  distinguish  from  the  Spanish  dragoons 
by  their  always  feeding  them,  and  encamping  with  them)  like 
dogs  through  our  camps,  the  small  villages,  and  forts  where  we 
halted.  When  well  supplied  with  sustenance  they  would  play  like 
young  puppies  with  each  other  and  the  soldiers,  but  the  instant 
they  were  shut  up  and  placed  on  the  mule  they  became  cross,  as 
the  jolting  knocked  them  against  each  other  and  they  were  some- 
times left  exposed  to  the  scorching  heat  of  a  vertical  sun  for  days 
without  food  or  a  drop  of  water,  in  which  case  they  would  worry 


Followers  of  Lewis  and  Clark  33 

and  tear  each  other,  until  nature  was  exhausted,  and  they  could 
neither  fight  nor  howl  any  longer.  They  will  be  one  year  old  on 
the  first  of  next  month  (March,  1808)  and,  as  I  am  informed,  they 
frequently  arrive  at  the  weight  of  eight  hundred  pounds. 

While  in  the  mountains  we  sometimes  discovered  them  at  a 
distance,  but  in  no  instance  were  we  able  to  come  up  with  one, 
which  we  eagerly  sought  and  that  being  the  most  inclement  season 
of  the  year,  induces  me  to  believe  they  seldom  or  never  attack 
man  unprovoked,  but  defend  themselves  courageously.  An 
instance  of  this  kind  occurred  in  New  Mexico,  while  I  sojourned 
in  that  province:  three  of  the  natives  attacked  a  bear  with  lances, 
two  of  whom  he  killed  and  wounded  the  third,  before  he  fell  the 
victim. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  respect  and  esteem, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

Z.  M.  PIKE. 

His  EXCELLENCY,  THOMAS  JEFFERSON, 
President  of  the  United  States. 

Richardson's  "Fauna  Boreali  American! "  (1829) 
mentions  that  a  young  grizzly  cub  caught  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains  was  brought  to  England  by  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  and  kept  alive  in  the  Tower.  Landseer  made 
several  engravings  of  it  and  a  fine  plate  is  included  in 
Richardson's  work.  Here  we  first  meet  with  the  tale  of 
a  trapper  seized  and  carried  off  from  beside  his  camp-fire 
by  a  large  grizzly,  but  rescued  by  a  comrade.  This 
occurred  on  the  Saskatchewan,  and  Richardson  met  and 
talked  with  the  rescuer,  whose  name  was  Bourasso,  and 
who  had  an  excellent  reputation  for  veracity.  The  story 
is  later  quoted  by  Audubon.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  in 
"The  Wilderness  Hunter,"  tells  of  meeting  a  French 


34  The  Grizzly  Bear 

trapper  named  Baptiste  Lamoche,  whose  head  was 
twisted  to  one  side  from  the  bite  of  a  grizzly  bear  which 
(according  to  his  story)  had  sneaked  up  on  him  while 
sitting  cooking  dinner  in  camp  by  the  shore  of  a  lake,  and 
had  seized  him  by  the  neck  with  his  teeth  and  started  to 
drag  him  off  into  the  woods,  but  was  shot  by  one  of  his 
companions. 

Audubon,  in  "The  Viviparous  Quadrupeds  of  North 
America"  (1846),  begins  his  article  upon  the  grizzly  bear 
by  saying:  "While  in  the  neighborhood  where  the  grizzly 
bear  may  possibly  be  hidden,  the  excited  nerves  will  cause 
the  heart's  pulsations  to  quicken  if  but  a  startled  ground- 
squirrel  run  past,  the  sharp  click  of  the  lock  is  heard  and 
the  rifle  hastily  thrown  to  the  shoulder  before  a  second  of 
time  has  assured  the  hunter  of  the  trifling  cause  of  his 
emotion."  Audubon  himself,  on  August  22,  1843,  had 
assisted  in  the  killing  of  a  grizzly  bear  on  the  Upper  Mis- 
souri and  his  words  are  significant.  They  paint  very  clearly 
the  frame  of  mind  with  which  even  a  trained  observer 
approached  the  study  of  this  animal,  and  go  far  toward 
explaining  why  all  the  testimony  relating  to  the  grizzly 
bear's  wariness  and  disinclination  to  fight  unless  pressed 
is  uniformly  overlooked  by  commentators,  and  only  his 
ferocity  dwelt  upon.  Audubon,  for  instance,  goes  on  to 
cite  Richardson's  story  of  Bourasso,  and  the  companion 
seized  at  the  side  of  his  camp-fire  and  made  off  with,  and 
seems  to  regard  it  as  quite  what  was  to  be  expected.  He 
then  sites  Drummond,  the  botanist,  who,  in  1826,  in  the 
Rockies,  often  came  upon  the  grizzly  bear  unexpectedly, 
but  said  that  when  he  stood  still  and  watched  them,  or 
simply  waved  his  hand,  or  made  a  noise  with  his  tin  box 


Followers  of  Lewis  and  Clark  35 

of  specimens,  they  would  rear  up,  look  at  him,  and  make 
off.  He  makes  no  comment  upon  this,  however,  and 
draws  no  inferences  from  it,  and  evidently  never  thought 
to  try  the  experiment  himself.  One  wishes,  by  the  way, 
that  Drummond  had  been  a  student  of  animals  instead  of 
plants.  He  had  the  right  kind  of  stuff  in  him.  He  evi- 
dently came  from  Missouri,  and  he  had  great  opportu- 
nities. For  instance,  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1826,  he 
saw  a  male  grizzly  caressing  a  female.  Soon  after,  both 
came  toward  him,  whether  by  accident  or  to  attack  he 
did  not  wait  to  see,  but  climbed  a  tree.  He  then  (being 
after  all  only  a  botanist)  shot  the  female,  and  the  enraged 
male  rushed  up  to  his  tree  and  reared  against  it,  but  did 
not  try  to  climb.  He  then  returned  to  the  female,  which 
had  sunk  to  the  ground,  and  Drummond  shot  him  too. 
So  was  wasted  a  chance  to  watch  a  forest  courtship,  to 
observe  which  I  would  tramp  a  hundred  miles  and  live  in 
a  tree  for  a  week. 

So  much  then  for  the  early  history  of  the  grizzly.  It  is 
not  much,  but  it  is  all  we  have.  Lewis  and  Clark's  obser- 
vations are  the  basis  of  it,  repeated  with  slight  variations 
and  considerable  embellishments  in  regard  to  ferociousness 
and  bloodthirstiness  by  each  after  writer.  Occasionally 
one  of  these  adds  an  original  observation  or  a  hearsay 
anecdote.  Then  these  in  turn  are  repeated  and  embel- 
lished. 

Meanwhile,  the  grizzly  had  been  seized  upon  as  a  lit- 
erary godsend  in  another  quarter.  To  the  romancers,  the 
discovery  of  an  Ursus  horribilis  was  like  the  throwing 
open  to  settlement  of  a  new  territory,  and  there  was  a 
regular  stampede  to  locate  quarter  sections.  Captain 


36  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Mayne  Reid  was  the  hero  of  the  movement.  Jenkins, 
Lawrence,  and  a  host  of  others  preceded  and  followed 
him.  Kit  Carson  wrote  reliably  and  was  not  listened 
to.  Jim  Bridges  told  whoppers  and  was  believed. 


IV 
JAMES  CAPEN  ADAMS 

A  3D  so  we  come  to  James  Capen  Adams.  Adams 
was  born  in  Medway,  Mass.,  in  October,  1807. 
He  was  trained  as  a  shoemaker,  but  as  soon  as  he 
attained  his  majority  he  joined  a  company  of  showmen  as 
a  collector  of  wild  animals  and  hunted  for  them  in  the 
woods  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont.  Later 
a  tiger,  belonging  to  the  show,  having  disabled  him  while 
he  was  training  it,  he  invested  all  his  means  in  boots  and 
shoes  and  started  for  St.  Louis  in  search  of  health  and 
a  fortune.  Finding  neither  in  this  outpost  of  civilization 
he  joined  the  rush  to  California,  where  he  arrived  in  the 
fall  of  1849,  having  come  overland  via  Mexico.  Here  for 
three  years  he  engaged,  with  varying  success,  in  mining, 
trading,  and  stock-raising,  and  finally  becoming  disgusted 
with  the  world  and  his  fellows,  in  the  fall  of  1852  he  took 
to  the  mountains  and  became  a  hermit,  a  hunter,  and  a 
purveyor  of  wild  animals  to  shows  and  menageries. 

At  first  he  took  no  especial  interest  in  grizzlies  and, 
indeed,  avoided  them.  He  says:  "I  frequently  saw  him 
[the  grizzly];  he  was  to  be  found,  I  knew,  in  the  bushy 
gorges  in  all  directions,  and  sometimes,  in  my  hunts, 

37 


38  The  Grizzly  Bear 

I  would  send  a  distant  shot  after  him;  but,  as  a  general 
rule,  during  this  first  winter,  I  paid  him  the  respect  to 
keep  out  of  his  way;  and  he  seemed  somewhat  ceremo- 
nious in  return.  Not  by  any  means  that  he  feared  me; 
but  he  did  not  invite  the  combat,  and  I  did  not  venture 
it."  Later  on  he  "considered  it  a  point  of  honor  to  give 
battle  in  every  case." 

But  had  he  been  merely  a  hunter,  merely  even  an 
uncouth  knight-errant  of  the  mountains,  sworn  to  per- 
petual pursuit  of  the  grizzly  dragon,  his  story  would  not 
concern  us.  It  was  because  he  dealt  in  living  grizzlies  as 
well  as  dead  ones;  because  for  all  his  sworn  enmity  he 
admired,  understood,  and  even  loved  them,  and  was  the 
first  white  man  to  domesticate  them;  because,  although 
he  was  neither  a  student  nor  even  an  educated  man,  he 
was  yet,  within  the  limits  of  his  interest,  an  accurate  ob- 
server, that  I  rank  him  so  high  as  a  light-giver  on  the  sub- 
ject of  these  animals.  The  story  of  Adams's  career  is  told 
in  a  book  called  "The  Adventures  of  James  Capen  Adams, 
Mountaineer  and  Grizzly  Bear  Hunter  of  California," 
written  by  Theodore  H.  Hittell,  published  in  1860,  and 
long  since  out  of  print.1  I  have  already  told  how  the  dis- 
covery of  this  book  excited  my  interest  in  hunting,  and  in 
the  grizzly;  but  some  years  ago,  wishing  to  refresh  my 
memory  in  regard  to  it,  I  obtained  a  copy  only  after 
much  searching. 

Adams,  in  this  book,  describes  several  of  his  expedi- 
tions; one  undertaken  in  May,  1853,  in  company  with 
a  young  Texan  named  Sykesey  and  two  Indians,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  visited  Washington  and  Oregon  Terri- 
tories, and  after  collecting  many  animals,  including  both 

1  Republished,  1911,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 


James  Capen  Adams  39 

black  and  grizzly  bears,  took  them  to  Portland  and 
shipped  them  to  the  East;  one  undertaken  in  the  early 
spring  of  1854  to  the  Yosemite  Valley;  and  one  later  in 
the  same  year  across  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  to  Salt  Lake 
City.  These  expeditions  brought  him  into  contact  with 
the  grizzly  throughout  the  greater  part  of  its  range  in 
what  is  now  the  United  States,  and  he  recognizes  and 
comments  upon  the  distinction  between  the  grizzlies  of 
California  and  those  of  the  North.  The  grizzly,  he  says, 
is  "the  monarch  of  American  beasts,  and,  in  many  re- 
spects, the  most  formidable  animal  in  the  world  to  be 
encountered.  In  comparison  with  the  lion  of  Africa  and 
the  tiger  of  Asia,  though  these  may  exhibit  more  activity 
and  bloodthirstiness,  the  grizzly  is  not  second  in  courage, 
and  excels  them  in  power.  Like  the  regions  which  he  in- 
habits, there  is  a  vastness  in  his  strength  which  makes  him 
a  fit  companion  for  the  monster  trees  and  rocks  of  the 
Sierras,  and  places  him,  if  not  the  first,  at  least  in  the  first 
rank  of  all  quadrupeds." 

Again  he  says:  "There  are  several  varieties  of  the 
grizzly  bear;  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  perhaps,  the 
species  has  a  wide  range,  extending  to  the  British  posses- 
sions on  the  north,  to  New  Mexico  on  the  south,  and  from 
the  eastern  spurs  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  His  size,  general  appearance,  and  character  vary 
with  the  part  of  this  great  region  in  which  he  is  found; 
for,  although  courageous  and  ferocious  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  he  is  there  neither  so  large  nor  so  terrible  as 
in  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  where  he  attains  his  greatest  size 
and  strength.  The  grizzly  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  reaches  the  weight  of  a  thousand  pounds; 


40  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  color  of  his  hair  is  almost  white;  he  is  more  disposed 
to  attack  men  than  the  same  species  in  other  regions,  and 
has  often  been  known  to  follow  upon  a  human  track  for 
several  hours  at  a  time.  Among  hunters  he  is  known  as 
the  Rocky  Mountain  white  bear,  to  distinguish  him  from 
other  varieties.  The  Californian  grizzly  sometimes 
weighs  as  much  as  two  thousand  pounds.  He  is  of  a 
brown  color,  sprinkled  with  grayish  hairs.  When  aroused 
he  is,  as  has  been  said  before,  the  most  terrible  of  all 
animals  in  the  world  to  encounter,  but  ordinarily  will  not 
attack  man  except  under  peculiar  circumstances.  The 
grizzly  of  Washington  and  Oregon  Territories  resembles 
the  bear  of  California,  with  the  exception  that  he  rarely 
attains  so  large  a  size  and  has  a  browner  coat.  His  hair 
is  more  disposed  to  curl  and  is  thicker,  owing  to  the  greater 
coldness  of  the  climate.  He  is  not  so  savage,  and  can  be 
hunted  with  greater  safety  than  either  the  Californian  or 
Rocky  Mountain  bear.  In  New  Mexico  the  grizzly  loses 
much  of  his  strength  and  power,  and  upon  the  whole,  is 
rather  a  timid  and  spiritless  animal." 

It  was  on  his  first  expedition,  somewhere  in  eastern 
Washington,  that,  having  shot  an  old  grizzly  that  was 
followed  by  two  yearling  cubs,  and  having,  after  many  dif- 
ficulties and  repeated  failures,  captured  the  youngsters, 
Adams  came  into  possession  of  Lady  Washington,  destined 
thenceforth  to  be  his  companion  and  servant.  She  was 
already  old  enough  to  resent  the  restriction  of  her  liberty, 
and  it  was  not  until  he  had  supplemented  kindness  with 
discipline  that  she  accepted  her  new  position  in  the 
scheme  of  life.  "From  that  time  to  this,"  Adams  says, 
"she  has  always  been  with  me;  and  often  has  she  shared 


James  Capen  Adams  41 

my  dangers  and  privations,  borne  my  burdens,  and  par- 
taken of  my  meals.  The  reader  may  be  surprised  to  hear 
of  a  grizzly  companion  and  friend,  but  Lady  Washington 
has  been  both  to  me.  He  may  hardly  credit  the  accounts 
of  my  nestling  up  between  her  and  the  fire  to  keep  both 
sides  warm  under  the  frosty  skies  of  the  mountains,  but 
all  this  is  true."  The  details  of  her  training,  the  gradual 
augmentation  of  her  liberty,  the  way  in  which  she  came 
to  follow  him  to  the  hunt,  and  finally  to  consent  (at  first 
utider  protest)  to  bear  the  trophies  of  these  joint  expedi- 
tions back  to  camp  on  her  back,  makes  fascinating  read- 
ing, and  Adams  seems,  naturally  enough,  to  have  valued 
her  affection.  But  the  following  year  her  nose  was  put 
out  of  joint.  During  one  of  his  hunts  in  the  Yosemite 
Valley,  in  the  spring  of  1854,  he  located  the  winter  quar- 
ters of  a  grizzly  bear,  from  which  the  occupant  had  not 
yet  emerged,  and  deciding,  from  the  sounds  that  reached 
him  in  his  careful  reconnoitring,  that  the  occupant  was 
a  female  with  young,  he  determined  to  watch  for  her 
appearance,  kill  her,  and  secure  the  cubs.  The  adventure 
proved  a  thrilling  one,  and  at  its  conclusion  he  found 
himself  in  possession  of  a  grizzly  bear  so  small  and  help- 
less that  he  only  succeeded  in  raising  it  by  inducing  a 
greyhound,  that  accompanied  the  party  and  had  a 
young  family  of  her  own  at  the  time,  to  adopt  it  in  lieu 
of  two  out  of  her  three  offspring.  She  objected  strenu- 
ously at  first,  but  soon  gave  in  gracefully,  and  Ben  Frank- 
lin and  his  foster-brother  grew  up  in  amity,  and  continued 
to  be  sworn  allies  through  life.  Ben,  having  never  known 
the  world  under  any  other  guise,  accepted  it  frankly  as 
he  found  it.  He  not  only  did  not  have  to  unlearn  the 


42  The  Grizzly  Bear 

habits  of  the  savage,  but  seems  never  to  have  developed 
them,  at  least  not  toward  his  master.  He  was  never 
chained,  slept  for  the  most  part  in  Adams's  company,  and 
when  at  last  the  ultimate  test  of  allegiance  was  unex- 
pectedly presented  to  him,  he  took  sides  unhesitatingly 
with  his  adopted  master  against  his  own  relations.  Adams, 
while  accompanied  by  Ben  Franklin,  was  attacked  by  a 
wounded  grizzly.  Ben  instantly  joined  in  the  fight,  and, 
though  himself  badly  bitten,  saved  his  master's  life.  From 
that  time  on  he  was  the  apple  of  Adams's  eye,  his  insep- 
arable companion,  and  of  all  living  beings  on  earth  the 
best  beloved. 

One  is  reminded  of  a  quaint  story,  quoted  by  several 
of  the  early  commentators,  of  a  grizzly  bear  once  domes- 
ticated by  a  tribe  of  northern  Indians.  On  the  occasion 
of  a  visit  from  members  of  another  tribe,  the  bear's  owner, 
for  a  joke,  ordered  the  bear  to  get  into  one  of  the  canoes 
belonging  to  the  visitors.  The  bear  obeyed,  but  the 
owner  of  the  canoe,  resenting  the  intrusion,  struck  him, 
and,  "since  the  bear  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  one  of 
their  family"  by  the  hosts,  the  blow  was  the  cause  of  an 
intertribal  war. 

Ben  accompanied  his  master  on  several  of  his  later 
trips,  and  more  than  once,  suffering  from  blistered  feet, 
limped  after  the  outfit  in  improvised  moccasins.  On  one 
occasion  it  was  only  by  the  most  heroic  devotion  that 
Adams  rescued  him  from  the  desert,  where  the  bear  had 
fallen  exhausted,  and  lay,  bending  imploring  eyes  upon 
his  master,  as  he  left  to  search  for  water  and  help.  We 
have  no  record  of  the  manner  of  Ben's  death,  but  one  can 
well  imagine,  after  reading  Mr.  Hittell's  book,  with  what 


James  Capen  Adams  43 

a  heavy  heart  Adams  must  finally,  in  1859,  have  sailed  for 
home  without  him. 

Adams  also  trained  and,  in  a  sense,  domesticated,  two 
other  grizzlies.  One  of  these,  called  "Funny  Joe,"  he 
captured  as  a  young  cub  on  his  expedition  to  Salt  Lake; 
the  other  came  to  him  in  an  entirely  different  way,  as  a 
result  of  the  same  trip.  At  one  of  their  camps  near  the 
Emigrant  Trail  they  thought  it  necessary  to  mount  a 
guard  at  night.  "The  guard  usually  consisted  of  two 
persons,  relieved  at  midnight  by  two  others.  The  last 
guard  on  one  particular  night  were  Tuolumne  and  one  of 
the  Indians,  who  reported  to  me  in  the  morning  that  a 
strange  bear  had  entered  camp,  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Lady  Washington,  and  after  a  t^te-a-fete  of  an  hour  or  so 
had  retired  again  in  a  very  peaceful  and  orderly  manner 
to  the  mountains  from  which  he  came.  They  had  not 
called  me  because  of  my  fatigue  during  the  day,  they  said, 
and  because  the  visitor  had  been  so  civil  that  they  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  disturb  me.  I,  however,  directed 
that  if  such  a  case  should  occur  again,  they  should  not 
fail  to  let  me  know. 

"The  next  night  the  visitor  returned,  and  being  in- 
formed of  it,  I  got  up.  It  was  about  midnight,  but  the 
moon  was  shining,  so  that  we  could  easily  see  him  ap- 
proach the  Lady,  who  was  usually  chained  at  night. 
I  took  my  rifle  with  the  intention  of  killing  the  beast,  but, 
on  second  thought,  concluded  it  would  be  more  to  our 
advantage  to  give  him  the  freedom  of  the  camp,  and 
accordingly  did  not  disturb  him.  He  remained  until 
dawn  and  then  retired.  On  the  occasion  of  his  return  the 
next  night — for,  like  a  royal  lover,  he  was  very  attentive — 


44  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Gray  advised  that  he  should  be  killed,  but  I  opposed  the 
proposition,  and,  for  aught  I  know,  he  still  roams  in  his 
native  haunts." 

Here  is  one  of  the  times  when  one  could  wish  that 
Adams's  interest  had  had  a  more  scientific  bias.  It  is 
only  roughly  that  we  are  able  to  set  from  seven  to  nine 
months  as  the  approximate  time  before  Lady  Washington 
gave  birth  to  a  male  cub.  Adams  named  him  Fremont, 
but  he  seems  to  have  done  little  credit  to  his  romantic 
begetting  and  his  noble  parentage,  either  in  intelligence 
or  looks. 

In  the  American  Naturalist  for  May,  1886,  under 
the  title  of  "Domestication  of  the  Grizzly  Bear,"  John 
Dean  Caton,  LL.D.,  discusses  Adams's  adventures,  de- 
scribes his  taming  of  Lady  Washington,  Ben  Franklin,  and 
Fremont,  and  says  that  at  first  he  looked  upon  this  book 
as  an  entertaining  romance  or  at  least  as  much  embel- 
lished. But  that,  "upon  inquiring  in  San  Francisco,  I  met 
reliable  persons  who  had  known  him  well  and  had  seen 
him  passing  through  the  streets  of  that  city  followed  by 
a  troupe  of  these  monstrous  grizzly  bears,  which  paid  not 
the  least  attention  to  the  yelping  dogs  and  the  crowds  of 
children  which  closely  followed  them,  giving  the  most 
conclusive  proof  of  the  docility  of  the  animals."  This  is 
the  only  reference  I  have  ever  seen  made  to  Adams's 
book,  and  Mr.  Caton's  glimpse  of  him  in  the  streets  of 
San  Francisco  is  interesting,  and,  if  that  were  needed, 
confirmatory. 

In  1907,  having  been  informed  by  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam 
that  the  author,  Mr.  Hittell,  was  still  living  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, I  wrote  to  him  asking  for  some  information  about 


A   CAMP   IN   THE    SIERRAS 


James  Capen  Adams  45 

the  origin  of  the  book  and  his  recollection  of  Adams.    In 
reply  I  received  the  following  letter: 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  December  15,  1907. 
MR.  W.  H.  WRIGHT. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  in  relation  to  "The  Adventures  of  James 
Capen  Adams,  etc./'  has  given  me  great  pleasure.  The  book, 
unfortunately,  was  published  in  the  exciting  and  excited  days  of 
1860,  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  and  was 
never  properly  placed  before  the  public;  but  it  is  gratifying  to 
find  that  it  did  here  and  there  reach  readers  who  became  inter- 
ested in  it.  It  is  possible,  and  indeed,  likely,  that  it  will  be  re- 
published,  and,  if  so,  it  will  contain  a  preface  giving  an  account 
of  how  I  became  acquainted  with  Adams  and  came  to  write  his 
story,  and  a  postscript  relating  to  his  death  and  what  became  of 
his  big  bears,  so  far  as  known  to  me. 

Your  own  work  in  hunting  and  studying  the  grizzly  excites 
my  lively  interest,  and  particularly  so  as  you  say  my  book,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  directed  your  attention  to  the  subject.  As 
to  the  questions  you  ask,  or  any  other  inquiries  you  may  make, 
I  will  cheerfully  give  you  all  the  information  within  my  knowledge. 

Ben  Franklin,  Adams's  favorite  bear,  died  in  San  Francisco; 
but  as  my  papers  are  not  at  hand,  I  cannot  be  certain  just  now 
about  the  exact  date.  According  to  my  recollection,  it  was  in  the 
summer  of  1859.  About  the  end  of  that  year  Adams  went  East, 
carrying  his  animals  in  a  sailing  vessel  around  Cape  Horn,  but 
without  his  finest  specimen.  I  knew  Ben  Franklin  well,  often 
played  with  him,  and  on  several  occasions  rode  on  his  back. 
The  picture  of  him  and  his  master,  given  at  the  head  of  Part 
Second  of  my  book,  entitled  "Adams  and  Ben  Franklin,"  pre- 
sents excellent  portraits.  Lady  Washington  and  Samson  were 
both,  as  I  understand  it,  taken  to  New  York  and  exhibited  there 
by  Adams  under  the  auspices  of  Barnum.  I  do  not  know  what 


46  The  Grizzly  Bear 

became  of  them.  Ben  Franklin  was  caught,  as  a  small  cub,  in  the 
spring  of  '54;  Lady  Washington,  as  a  larger  cub  in  1853,  and  Sam- 
son, as  a  large  bear,  in  the  winter  of  1854-5;  that  is,  if  Adams  was 
truthful  in  his  statements  to  me,  as  I  thought  and  still  think  he 
was.  As  to  Samson's  weight,  my  recollection  is  that  Adams  said 
he  had  had  him  weighed  on  a  hay  scales.  His  show  bills  in  San 
Francisco  gave  fifteen  hundred  pounds  as  his  weight  and  I  never 
heard  it  disputed,  but  as  he  was  doubtless  the  big  bear  exhibited 
in  New  York,  it  is  possible  that  the  exact  weight  could  be  ascer- 
tained there. 

As  to  Adams's  death,  Barnum,  in  his  autobiography,  gives  an 
account  of  it,  and  I  know  nothing  more  than  he  tells  except  a  few 
items  found  in  the  newspaper  at  the  time.  My  recollection  is  that 
he  died  in  Massachusetts.  There  was  a  depression  in  his  skull 
just  above  the  forehead,  which  he  said  was  caused  by  a  blow 
from  a  bear  in  the  early  part  of  1855,  as  related  on  pages  313  and 
314  of  my  book.  On  his  passage  around  Cape  Horn,  on  his  way 
to  New  York,  he,  according  to  report,  had  a  fight  with  an  ape  or 
baboon,  which  tore  the  wound  afresh,  and,  though  it  healed  again 
sufficiently  to  enable  him  to  go  about  and  attend  to  business,  he 
eventually  died  from  the  effects  of  it. 

As  to  the  comparative  sizes  of  Ben  Franklin  and  Lady  Wash- 
ington with  Samson,  I  should  say  that  the  latter  was  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  twice  as  large  as  either  of  the  others;  so  far  as  I  know  he 
was  the  same  bear  that  was  exhibited  in  the  Eastern  States  in 
1860.  He  was  untamed  and  had  to  be  kept  in  a  very  large  and 
strong  cage,  though  I  never  saw  him  very  wild. 

In  reference  to  getting  Adams's  story,  I  was  in  the  newspaper 
business  at  the  time,  and  could  get  only  an  hour  or  two  a  day  to 
spend  with  him;  and,  as  he  talked,  I  wrote  down  what  he  said, 
usually  in  his  own  language,  but  sometimes  with  some  changes  to 
make  it  more  grammatical.  He  knew  little  or  nothing  about  the 
geography  of  the  country,  and  I  therefore  could  not  locate  him 


James  Capen  Adams  47 

except  in  very  general  terms.  He  did  not,  on  any  occasion,  appear 
to  exaggerate,  and  told  nothing  improbable,  though  I  had  to 
wonder  how  he  could  remember  so  distinctly  the  particulars  of 
his  various  hunts.  I  still  have  my  notes  of  his  talk.  My  object  in 
writing  the  book  was  to  tell  his  story  in  his  own  way,  and  I  added 
nothing  to  the  substance  of  his  narrative  except  a  few  supposed 
embellishments  and  a  little  sentiment,  besides  literary  order, 
expression,  and  arrangement.  I  have  to  thank  Dr.  Merriam  for 
directing  you  to  me,  and  hope  my  answers  to  your  inquiries  will 
be  satisfactory. 

Hoping  to  hear  from  you  again,  believe  me, 
Very  sincerely  yours, 

THEODORE  H.  HITTELL. 

To  my  mind,  when  I  was  a  boy,  this  old  man  Adams 
was  the  prince  of  all  hunters.  Boone  and  Crockett  and 
Carson  seemed  one-candle-power  lamps  to  this  old  arc 
light  of  an  Adams,  and  in  some  ways  I  feel  so  still.  Ad- 
ams, of  course,  was  not  a  naturalist.  He  was  not,  except 
in  his  capacity  as  a  hunter,  trader,  and  trainer  of  wild  ani- 
mals, interested  in  natural  history,  that  is  to  say,  he  was 
only  interested  in  those  habits  and  in  those  traits  of  the  ani- 
mals he  dealt  with  that  had  to  do  with  his  success.  But 
he  was  of  a  quicker  intelligence  and  of  a  more  indepen- 
dent nature  than  most  of  his  kind;  he  insisted  upon  using 
his  own  eyes,  he  had  a  widely  varied  experience,  and  his 
reminiscences  abound  in  observations  of  interest,  and  of 
at  least  conditional  value.  I  shall  more  than  once  refer 
to  them  as  occasions  arise. 


V 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  CLASSIFICATION  OF  BEARS 

IT  was  formerly  the  custom  to  class  the  North  American 
bears  in  three  groups — Blacks,  Grizzlies,  and  the 
Polar  Bear.  The  study  during  recent  years  of  a  series  of 
several  hundred  skulls,  including  many  belonging  to  the 
huge  bears  of  the  Alaskan  coast  region,  showed  this  classi- 
fication to  be  inadequate,  and,  scientific  naturalists  having 
added  four  more  strongly  marked  species  to  our  fauna,  it 
became  necessary,  in  view  of  the  remarkable  characters 
presented  by  these  new  forms,  to  rearrange  our  bears. 

According  to  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam's  classification  of 
the  North  American  bears,  these  may  now  be  classed  in 
five  well-marked,  superspecific  groups  or  types: 

1.  The  Polar  Bear. 

2.  The  Black  Bears. 

3.  The  Grizzly  Bears. 

4.  The  Sitka  Bear  Type. 

5.  The  Kodiak,  or  Alaska  Peninsula  Bear. 

The  five  groups  are  unequally  related.  The  Polar 
Bear  belongs  to  an  independent  genus.  The  Black  Bears 
differ  more  from  the  others,  taken  collectively,  than  the 
latter  do  from  one  another;  and  seem  to  be  the  only  ones 
whose  distinctive  character  is  of  sufficient  weight  to  en- 
title them  to  subgeneric  recognition. 

48 


The  Scientific  Classification  of  Bears         49 

Taking  up  these  groups  in  order  we  find  that: 

1.  The  Polar  or  Ice  Bear,  Thalarctos  Maritimus  Linn., 
inhabits  the  Arctic  shores  and  the  islands  of  both  conti- 
nents, and  has  not  been  subdivided. 

2.  The  Black  Bears  may  be  separated  into  at  least 
four  species,  having,  respectively,  more  or  less  circum- 
scribed geographic  ranges: 

(a)  The  Common  Black  Bear,  Ursus  Americanus 
Pallas. 

(U)  The  Louisiana  Bear,  Ursus  Luteolus  Griffith. 

(c)  The  Florida  Bear,  Ursus  Floridanus  Merriam. 

(d)  The  St.  Elias  Bear,  Ursus  Emmonsi  Dall. 

Some  of  these  may  be  found  to  intergrade,  and  Ursus 
Americanus  may  be  still  further  split  into  subspecies. 

3.  The  Grizzly  Bears  (including  the  Barren  Ground 
Bear)   may  be  separated   into  four  more   or    less  well- 
marked  forms,  as  follows: 

(a)  The  True  Grizzly,   Ursus  Horribilis  Ord,   from 
the  northern  Rocky  Mountains. 

(b)  The  Sonora  Grizzly,  Ursus  Horribilis  Horriaus 
Baird,  probably  only  a  subspecies. 

(c)  The   Norton   Sound,    Alaska,    Grizzly,    probably 
another  subspecies. 

(d)  The  very  distinct   Barren   Ground   Bear,   Ursus 
Richardsoni  Mayne  Reid. 

Whether  or  not  the  large  grizzly  from  Southern  Cali- 
fornia deserves  subspecific  separation  from  the  Sonora 
animal  (H  or  rice  us),  has  not  been  determined. 

4.  In  the  fourth  group,  the  large  brown  bear  of  Sitka 
and  the  neighboring  islands  (and  perhaps  the  adjacent 
mainland  also),  Ursus  Sitkensis  Merriam,  and  the  large 


50  The  Grizzly  Bear 

brown  bear  of  Yakutat  Bay  and  the  coastal  slope  of  the 
St.  Elias  range,  Ursus  Dalli  Merriam,  are  the  represent- 
atives of  a  very  distinct  type.  They  resemble  the  grizzly 
in  the  flatness  of  their  skulls,  but  are  much  larger,  are  dif- 
ferent in  color,  have  more  curved  foreclaws,  and  the  Sitka 
bear  has  a  different  type  of  sectorial  tooth.  The  Yakutat 
Bear  is  much  larger  than  the  Sitka  Bear,  and  has  very 
different  teeth.  It  may  represent  a  different  section. 

5.  The  gigantic  fish-eating  bear  of  Kodiak  Island  and 
the  Alaska  Peninsula,  Ursus  Middendorffi  Merriam,  is  the 
largest  of  living  bears  and  differs  markedly  from  all  other 
American  species.  It  closely  resembles  the  Great  Brown 
Bear  of  Kamchatka,  Ursus  Beringiana  MiddendorflF, 
which  it  slightly  exceeds  in  size.  The  extraordinary  ele- 
vation and  narrowness  of  the  forehead  suffice  to  distin- 
guish this  bear  from  all  other  known  species. 

The  number  of  full  species  of  North  American  bears 
here  recognized  is  ten :  four  of  the  Black  Bear  group,  two 
of  the  Grizzly  group,  three  of  the  big  brown  bears  of 
Alaska,  and  the  Polar  Bear. 

These  ten  species  are  as  follows: 

The  Polar  Bear,  Thalarctos  Maritimus  Linn. 
The    Common    Black    Bear,    Ursus    Americanus 

Pallas. 

The  Louisiana  Black  Bear,  Ursus  Luteolus  Grif- 
fith. 

The  Florida  Black  Bear,  Ursus  Florldanus  Mer- 
riam. 

The  St.  Elias  Black  Bear,  Ursus  Emmonsi  Dall. 
The  Rocky  Mountain  Grizzly,   Ursus  Horribilis 
Ord. 


The  Scientific  Classification  of  Bears         51 

The  Barren  Ground  Grizzly,   Ursus  Richardsoni 

Mayne  Reid. 

The  Sitka  Brown  Bear,  Ursus  Sitkensis  Merriam. 
The  Yakutat  Brown  Bear,  Ursus  Dalli  Merriam. 
The    Kodiak    Brown    Bear,    Ursus    Middendorffi 

Merriam. 

It  will,  of  course,  be  understood  that  when  in  this 
work  mention  is  made  of  the  grizzly  bear,  it  is  intended 
to  refer  to  that  species  found  throughout  the  northern 
Rocky  Mountain  region  of  the  United  States  and  British 
Columbia,  the  species  recognized  by  all  scientific  natural- 
ists as  the  true  grizzly,  Ursus  Horribilis  Ord.  No  other 
type  of  the  grizzly  will  be  discussed,  except  by  way  of 
comparison. 


PART  II 
MY   EXPERIENCES   AND   ADVENTURES 


VI 
MY  FIRST  GRIZZLY 

HUNTING  grizzlies  requires  more  quiet,  more  skill, 
and  more  patience  than  any  other  kind  of  hunting, 
and  at  the  best  there  will  be  more  disappointments  than 
killings.  It  took  me  several  years  to  learn  this.  I  started 
out  with  deep-rooted  but  mistaken  notions,  and  these  had 
to  be  knocked  out  of  my  head  by  failures,  and  new  ones 
hammered  in  by  experience,  before  I  understood  the 
grizzly  well  enough  to  even  occasionally  get  the  best  of 
him. 

The  best  way  to  hunt  them  is  to  study  their  habits, 
familiarize  yourself  with  their  range,  and  lie  in  wait  for 
them  near  their  feeding  grounds.  Trailing  them  is  more 
than  uncertain.  It  is,  to  be  sure,  a  supreme  test  of  wood- 
craft and  endurance,  but  it  must  be  a  good  hunter  indeed 
that  can  take  up  the  trail  of  an  old  grizzly  and  hope  to 
get  a  shot  at  him. 

I  am  often  asked  what  is  the  best  gun  for  grizzlies  ? 
My  answer  is  that  the  best  gun  is  the  one  the  hunter  is 
most  used  to  and  hence  has  the  most  confidence  in;  any 
of  the  high-power  guns  are  all  right  and  will,  if  the  bullet 
be  well  placed,  end  matters  at  the  first  shot.  My  own  first 
hunting  rifle  was  an  old  .44  Winchester  that  I  brought 
from  the  East.  It  had  already  done  good  service  for  deer 

55 


56  The  Grizzly  Bear 

and  black  bear,  but  the  extractor  had  become  worn,  so 
that  it  would  not  always  draw  the  shell  unless  I  put  my 
thumb  on  it  and  bore  down.  This  worked  satisfactorily 
as  long  as  I  thought  to  do  it,  but  there  were  times  when 
I  forgot  and  then  there  was  trouble.  The  cartridge  then 
had  to  be  cut  to  pieces  before  it  could  be  taken  out,  and  it 
required  a  pocket-knife  and  some  labor  to  accomplish  the 
result.  For  a  year  or  more  I  had  been  thinking  of  getting 
another  gun,  but  this  one  was  so  accurate  that  I  clung  to 
it,  and  at  last  it  got  me  into  difficulties. 

I  made  a  number  of  trips  after  grizzlies  and  I  had 
got  sight  of  several,  but  they  had  always  seen  or  heard 
me  first,  and  when  I  would  see  them  they  were  just  disap- 
pearing over  some  ridge  or  into  some  jungle.  So  one 
spring,  having  made  up  my  mind  to  go  after  them  and  not 
return  until  I  had  one,  I  started  out  in  May  with  a  few 
pack-horses  and  went  to  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains,  which 
form  the  dividing  line  between  Montana  and  Idaho. 
A  friend  went  along  with  me  to  look  after  the  horses,  help 
do  the  packing  and,  as  he  said,  skin  the  bears. 

For  nearly  three  months  we  cruised  about  this  rugged 
wilderness  and  enjoyed  life  to  the  utmost.  We  killed 
plenty  of  black  bears,  but  up  to  September  had  not  bagged 
a  grizzly.  We  found  an  abundance  of  their  tracks  and 
saw  three  bears,  but  they  were  so  wild  that  we  could  not 
get  near  enough  to  them  for  a  shot,  and  twice,  when  it 
seemed  as  if  one  could  not  possibly  escape,  it  quietly 
slipped  out  of  sight  at  a  point  I  had  not  calculated  upon. 

We  had,  during  this  time,  killed  several  deer  for  meat, 
but  though  we  had  seen  some  elk  and  one  or  two  moose, 
we  had  not  shot  them  since  we  could  not  care  for  so  much 


My  First  Grizzly  57 

meat  and  had  no  way  of  carrying  the  heads.  At  last, 
however,  having,  perforce,  given  up  getting  a  grizzly,  we 
turned  our  faces  homeward,  and  I  determined  to  kill  an 
elk  and  pack  out  the  head  and  what  meat  we  could. 

We  therefore  left  the  divide  we  had  been  following 
and  struck  off  to  the  right  to  reach  a  stream  of  consid- 
erable size  flowing  into  the  main  north  fork  of  the  Clear- 
water  River.  We  had  been  told  by  an  old  miner  that 
there  was  a  large  lick  on  this  stream  about  twenty  miles 
from  the  trail,  and  he  directed  us  as  to  where  to  leave  the 
ridge,  and  where,  after  we  struck  the  stream,  we  would 
find  the  lick. 

We  followed  his  directions  and  arrived  at  the  creek 
about  noon  the  second  day.  The  stream  was  very  swift 
and  cold,  since  we  were  near  its  source,  and  it  flowed  from 
the  snow-banks  only  a  few  miles  away.  We  set  up  our 
tent,  turned  the  horses  out  to  graze,  had  a  quick  lunch,  and 
I,  taking  my  rifle,  went  to  search  for  the  lick,  leaving  my 
friend  to  attend  to  the  camp.  The  weather  was  warm, 
and  expecting  to  return  before  dark,  I  did  not  take  my 
coat.  I  found  the  lick  where  the  miner  had  stated  and  saw 
plenty  of  fresh  tracks  of  elk  and  deer.  There  was  no  tim- 
ber nearer  the  spot  than  across  the  creek,  except  some  two 
hundred  yards  down  the  stream,  but  close  to  the  lick,  on 
its  lower  side,  there  were  some  small  bushes  three  or  four 
feet  high.  Into  these,  then,  I  crawled,  and  finding  an  old 
log  that  had  been  left  there  by  high  water  years  before, 
I  cut  some  of  the  bushes  and  made  a  rough  bed  on  the 
lower  side  of  it. 

This  was  my  first  experience  in  watching  such  a  place, 
and  I  did  not  know  that,  at  that  time  of  year,  the  game 


58  The  Grizzly  Bear 

did  not  come  every  day.  Judging  from  the  trails,  I  took 
it  that  they  did.  They  had,  without  a  doubt,  been  there 
that  morning,  and  so  I  curled  down  and  prepared  to 
wait.  At  first  it  was  not  uncomfortable.  The  sun  shone 
in  upon  me  and  I  found  myself  dozing  several  times. 
Later,  when  the  sun  sank  behind  the  mountains,  I  began 
to  feel  the  need  of  a  coat,  but  still  I  did  not  care  to  give 
up,  and  determined  to  stick  it  out  until  I  got  an  elk  or  it 
became  too  dark  to  see. 

Every  few  minutes  I  raised  my  head  above  the  bushes, 
but  nothing  seemed  to  be  stirring.  Finally  it  became  so 
cold  that  my  teeth  began  to  chatter  and  I  looked  at  my 
watch  and  made  up  my  mind  to  stay  just  five  minutes 
more.  When  these  were  gone  I  raised  up,  took  another 
look,  and  seeing  nothing  in  sight,  concluded  to  remain 
another  five.  This  I  did  several  times.  Finally  I  was 
nearly  frozen  and  I  determined  that  the  next  five  minutes 
should  be  the  last  and  that  I  would  not  wait  longer  for  all 
the  elk  in  the  country.  When  the  time  was  up  I  took  a 
good  look  about,  but  not  a  living  thing  could  be  seen. 
Then  I  looked  up-stream  and,  just  around  the  point  of  the 
hill  and  out  in  the  bottom  about  a  hundred  yards  away, 
I  saw  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  old  grizzly  I  had  seen 
in  the  cage  when  I  was  a  boy.  He  had  the  same  carriage, 
had  the  same  big  forearms  and  the  gait  I  would  know 
again  anywhere  as  long  as  I  lived.  Best  of  all  the  brute 
was  headed  straight  for  my  log.  I  ducked  back  to  my  bed 
and  waited  almost  breathless  for  him  to  get  nearer.  I 
had  laid  no  plans.  I  simply  wanted  him  to  get  near 
enough  that  there  might  be  no  possibility  of  his  escaping. 
It  now  seemed  certain  that  my  dream  was  to  come  true. 


My  First  Grizzly  59 

I  waited  for  what  seemed  an  unconscionable  time, 
and  hearing  nothing,  began  to  fear  that  this  bear,  like  the 
others,  had  given  me  the  slip.  Finally  I  raised  up  to  look 
about  and  there  he  was  about  seventy-five  yards  away. 
He  had  evidently  been  standing  still  and  had  resumed  his 
walk  just  as  I  looked  up.  I  did  not  drop  down  again,  but 
just  stooped  so  that  he  would  not  see  me,  and  waited  for 
him  to  reach  a  spot  from  which  he  could  not  get  away 
once  I  had  opened  up  on  him. 

When  some  forty  yards  off  he  turned  a  little  to  the 
left  so  as  to  avoid  some  bushes,  and  this  being  just  what 
I  wanted,  I  straightened  up,  aimed  carefully  just  on 
the  point  of  the  shoulder  close  to  the  neck,  and  pulled  the 
trigger. 

It  never  entered  my  thoughts  but  that  the  bear  would 
drop  in  his  tracks.  One  can,  therefore,  imagine  my  sur- 
prise when  he  gave  a  roar  like  a  mad  bull  and  came  my 
way  on  the  jump.  I  threw  the  lever  of  the  rifle  forward  to 
pump  up  another  cartridge,  but  that  roar,  and  the  grizzly's 
tactics,  had  so  surprised  me  that  I  forgot  to  thumb  my  old 
Winchester  and  the  shell  was  left  jammed  in  the  breach. 
Here  was  a  situation  not  down  on  the  programme,  and  it 
began  to  look  as  though  I  was  going  to  have  all  the  grizzly 
I  wanted.  I  took  one  look,  dropped  the  gun,  and  lit  out 
for  the  creek,  and  as  I  reached  it  I  jumped  down  the 
bank,  which  was  about  three  feet  high. 

Underneath  this  bank  the  dirt  had  been  washed  out  by 
the  river,  leaving  a  considerable  hollow  below  the  roots  of 
the  bushes,  and  when  I  saw  this  space  I  ducked  into  it, 
figuring  that  the  bear,  if  he  jumped  after  me,  might  jump 
clear  over  me  and  give  me  a  chance  to  climb  back  up  the 


60  The  Grizzly  Bear 

bank  and  make  for  the  timber  down  the  stream.  The 
water  was  ice  cold  and  I  had  been  nearly  frozen  before 
taking  to  it,  but  I  had  no  regrets.  I  waited  for  what  seemed 
to  me  a  half-hour,  but  I  could  hear  nothing  beyond  the 
rush  of  the  water  as  it  surged  around  the  boulders,  and  at 
last  it  got  so  cold  that  I  felt  that  I  would  as  soon  be  clawed 
by  a  bear  as  frozen  to  death.  So  I  tried  to  make  my  way  up- 
stream, thinking  to  reach  a  point  above  the  bend  and  there 
get  out  and  go  to  camp;  but  the  water  was  so  rapid  and 
seemed  to  me  to  make  so  much  noise  as  it  struck  against 
my  neck,  that  I  was  afraid  the  bear  would  hear  me  if  he 
was  listening,  as  I  supposed  he  was.  He  was  behaving  so 
differently  from  the  bears  I  was  accustomed  to  that  I  was 
at  a  loss  how  to  size  him  up. 

When  I  found  I  could  not  go  up  the  stream  I  decided 
to  go  down,  and  by  hanging  on  to  the  roots,  slid  noiselessly 
along  for  about  fifty  yards.  Then,  as  I  still  heard  nothing 
of  the  bear,  I  concluded  that  he  had  either  left  the  spot  or 
was  keeping  quiet  and  watching  for  me  to  reappear,  and, 
determined  to  at  least  have  a  look,  I  got  up  on  my  knees, 
scraped  the  water  out  of  my  shirt,  and  peered  cautiously 
over  the  bank.  But  I  was  still  too  low  to  see  over  the 
bushes,  so  I  crawled  ashore  and  raised  up  enough  to  look 
about  me.  Still  I  could  see  no  bear.  I  now  began  to  fear 
that  he  had  escaped  me,  instead  of  I  him,  and  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  creep  to  my  gun,  cut  the  cartridge  out,  and 
hunt  for  him. 

It  makes  me  laugh  to  this  day  when  I  think  of  the 
picture  I  must  have  made,  first  crawling  a  few  feet,  then 
lying  still  and  listening.  It  was  the  most  conscientious 
stalking  I  ever  did.  When  I  reached  the  log  and  looked 


My  First  Grizzly  61 

for  my  gun  I  could,  at  first,  see  nothing  of  it.  But,  raising 
my  head  a  bit,  I  spied  it  lying  where  I  had  thrown  it  in  my 
haste  to  get  away,  and  I  at  once  cut  the  shell  out,  carefully 
thumbed  it  while  I  pumped  in  another  cartridge,  and 
then,  my  own  man  again,  I  stood  up  and  looked  about  me. 

And  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  that  terrible  bear,  as  dead 
as  a  stone,  and  not  more  than  twenty  feet  from  where  it 
had  stood  when  I  shot  it.  Moreover,  it  had  turned  a  com- 
plete somersault  and  was  headed  the  other  way.  The  bul- 
let had  entered  between  the  shoulder  and  the  neck,  had 
hit  no  bones  except  a  rib,  and  had  passed  over  the  heart, 
severing  the  large  blood-vessels. 

Since  then  I  have  found  that  nearly  all  grizzlies,  if  shot 
when  they  are  not  aware  of  the  presence  of  the  hunter,  will, 
for  some  reason,  run  in  the  direction  from  which  the  wound 
is  received.  This,  I  believe  myself,  is  why  so  many  claim 
that  grizzlies  always  charge  them.  The  next  time  my 
attention  was  drawn  to  this  I  shot  across  a  ravine  at  a 
grizzly  that  had  just  come  out  of  the  bushes.  I  obtained 
a  side  shot  at  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  and  I  made 
it  sitting  down,  aiming  close  up  to  the  shoulder.  At  the 
crack  of  the  gun  the  bear  turned  and  charged  straight  at 
me,  and  I  could  see  the  brush  in  the  gully  sway,  and  could 
hear  him  tearing  through  it.  I  ran  back  a  few  yards  from 
the  edge  of  the  brush  so  as  to  get  a  clear  shot  at  him  when 
he  came  out  of  the  ravine,  and  when  he  emerged  I  made 
a  movement  to  shoot.  Like  a  flash  he  saw  me,  evidently 
for  the  first  time,  and  turned  so  quickly  that,  as  I  was  not 
expecting  such  a  move,  I  did  not  have  time  to  fire.  He 
only  made  a  few  jumps  after  seeing  me  and  changing  his 
course,  before  he  fell  dead. 


62  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Since  then  I  have  seen  many  bears  do  the  same  thing, 
and  I  am  convinced  that,  although  they  generally,  in  these 
circumstances,  run  toward  one,  it  is  not  by  any  means 
always  with  the  intention  of  charging. 


VII 

\ 

FIVE  IN  FIVE  SHOTS 

1  SHALL  never  forget  the  first  grizzly-bear  trail  I  ever 
saw.  Not  only  because  it  was  the  first,  but  because 
for  many  months  it  and  its  maker  interested  me,  cost  me 
untold  exertions,  brought  me  uncounted  disappointments, 
and  finally  figured  in  the  most  successful  encounter  I  ever 
had  with  grizzlies. 

It  was  a  very  distinct  trail  across  the  bottom  of  a 
canon,  perhaps  a  hundred  yards  wide,  and  had  been  worn 
by  an  old  and  very  large  animal.  The  ground  on  either 
side  of  the  gully  was  too  hard  to  show  his  footprints,  but, 
coming  and  going,  he  always  seemed  to  cross  at  the  same 
spot,  and  I  thought  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  watch 
the  trail  and  shoot  the  bear.  This  was  when  my  first 
greenness  was  a  thing  of  the  past  and  I  was  beginning  to 
take  notice  on  my  own  account;  but  after  watching  oflF 
and  on  for  a  week  and  over,  and  seeing  nothing,  I  con- 
cluded that  the  bear  no  longer  used  the  trail,  and  dismissed 
the  matter  from  my  mind.  A  few  weeks  later,  however,  in 
passing  the  spot  again,  I  saw  fresh  tracks,  and  knowing 
that  the  bear  was  still  in  the  vicinity,  resumed  my  watch- 
ing, but  without  result.  Then  I  tried  still-hunting  the 
canon.  I  crawled  through  every  thicket  and  looked  into 
every  place  where  I  thought  a  bear  could  hide,  but  aside 

63 


64  The  Grizzly  Bear 

from  a  fourteen-inch  track  and  a  few  hairs  that  he  would 
leave  sticking  to  trees  as  he  passed,  I  saw  nothing  that 
looked  like  a  bear,  and  was  almost  willing  to  swear  that 
no  grizzly  inhabited  the  canon. 

For  two  years  I  continued  at  intervals  to  see  the  big 
tracks  in  this  canon,  but  not  once  did  I  see  the  bear. 
Finally,  both  my  knowledge  and  experience  having  been 
augmented,  I  made  up  my  mind  that,  if  such  a  thing  were 
possible,  I  would  at  least  set  eyes  on  him,  and  I  got  a  man 
to  go  with  me  to  look  after  the  camp  and  horses  so  I 
would  have  nothing  to  do  but  hunt.  We  made  camp 
about  two  miles  from  the  canon,  and  my  first  excursion 
showed  me  that  my  old  friend  with  the  big  feet  was  still 
in  evidence. 

The  upper  edges  of  this  canon  were  heavily  timbered, 
and  above  this  timber  on  one  hand  stretched  an  open  hill- 
side facing  the  south.  Near  the  head  of  the  canon  this 
hillside  was  cut  into  by  many  little  ravines,  and  along  the 
edges  between  these  the  sarvis  berry  grew.  As  I  had  never 
succeeded  in  getting  sight  of  the  bear  in  the  canon  itself, 
I  decided  to  watch  the  hillside  and  perhaps  catch  him  as 
he  came  out  to  feed;  so  I  selected  a  point  which  com- 
manded a  view  of  the  whole  hill,  and  every  morning  from 
daylight  until  ten  o'clock  found  me  on  the  lookout,  seated 
in  a  little  clump  of  fir-trees.  And  from  three  o'clock  until 
dark  I  was  in  the  same  place.  Day  after  day,  how- 
ever, passed  and  brought  no  bear,  and  at  last  the  camp 
tender,  while  he  did  not  say  out  and  out  that  he  thought 
I  was  "locoed,"  intimated  it  pretty  broadly.  For  his  part, 
he  said,  he  did  not  believe  there  was  a  bear  in  the  whole 
country. 


Five  in  Five  Shots  65 

Yet,  almost  every  morning,  examination  showed  fresh 
bear  tracks  on  the  old  trail,  and  I  felt  it  safe  to  assume 
that  something  was  making  them.  So  for  a  whole  week 
I  lay  in  that  clump  of  firs.  Then  I  began  to  think  about 
giving  up;  but,  knowing  that  the  animal  must  show  him- 
self in  time,  I  kept  taking  on  fresh  stocks  of  patience  and 
dragging  myself  again  and  again  up  to  the  little  clump  of 
firs. 

At  last  there  came  a  rain.  It  began  in  the  night  and 
kept  up  until  about  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
following  day,  and  rained  so  hard  that  I  did  not  go  out  in 
the  morning.  In  the  afternoon  it  was  so  wet  that  I  hesi- 
tated about  going,  but  finally,  thinking  that  this  might  be 
just  the  time  the  old  bear  would  select  to  go  berrying, 
I  decided  to  risk  it.  And,  as  luck  would  have  it,  when 
I  reached  the  firs  and  took  a  look  at  the  hillside,  there  sat 
an  old  grizzly  about  a  hundred  yards  above  the  brink  of 
the  canon,  and  some  three  hundred  yards  from  me, 
busily  engaged  in  pulling  down  branches  and  eating  ber- 
ries. 

I  immediately  began  the  sneak  of  my  life.  I  did  not, 
even  at  first,  think  of  walking.  I  simply  got  down  on  the 
ground  and  snaked  it.  I  worked  below  the  bear,  so  that 
if  he  ran  he  would  have  to  come  my  way  or  go  up  the 
open  hillside  and  thus  afford  me  additional  shots  if  I 
failed  with  the  first.  But  I  had  no  intention  of  failing. 
I  worked  along  slowly,  so  that  the  bear  had  moved  quite 
a  distance  up  the  hill  before  I  finally  got  within  reasonable 
range,  and  even  then  I  kept  on  until  I  was  within  sixty 
yards  before  finally  making  up  my  mind  to  risk  a  shot. 
I  then  crawled  behind  a  bunch  of  bushes  and,  without 


66  The  Grizzly  Bear 

getting  up,  looked  the  ground  over  to  see  what  the  chances 
were  of  the  bear's  getting  back  into  the  canon  in  case  I 
failed  to  drop  him.  And  down  there,  in  the  canon  I  had 
watched  so  long  and  so  vainly,  stood  the  largest  bear  it 
had  ever  been  my  good  fortune  to  set  eyes  on.  I  began  to 
think  the  woods  were  full  of  them,  and  backing  silently  into 
one  of  the  small  ravines,  I  worked  down  the  hill  toward 
the  big  fellow.  And  as  I  got  a  better  view  of  him  I  knew 
what  had  made  those  tracks.  I  had  thought  nothing  about 
the  size  of  the  first  bear.  I  had  been  disappointed  so 
.often  that  anything  went.  But  now  that  I  had  set  my  eyes 
on  this  big  one  I  thought  him  entitled  to  precedence. 

Yet  I  wanted  both,  and  I  thought  I  saw  my  way  to  get- 
ting them.  The  first  bear  seemed  to  have  struck  a  bo- 
nanza berry  patch  and  was  moving  slowly,  or  not  at  all. 
The  big  fellow,  on  the  other  hand,  was  down  where  the 
bushes  were  pretty  well  stripped  and  seemed  to  be  work- 
ing uphill  fairly  fast.  I  therefore  dropped  out  of  sight, 
wormed  my  way  downhill  a  bit  farther,  waited  till  the  two 
bears  were  about  a  hundred  yards  apart,  and  then  crept 
to  the  top  of  a  slight  ridge  and  found  myself  some  forty 
yards  from  the  big  one  and  sixty  from  the  other. 

I  figured  on  killing  the  large  bear  at  the  first  shot  and 
then  turning  on  the  other  before  he  had  time  to  take  in 
the  situation;  and  I  relied  on  the  second  bear's  standing 
up  to  take  a  look  before  making  for  the  canon,  and  thereby 
giving  me  the  few  seconds  that  I  would  need. 

By  this  time  I  had  got  rid  of  my  old  .44  repeater, 
and  was  shooting  a  single-shot  .45-100  Winchester  that 
weighed  twelve  pounds.  I  had  selected  this  gun  because 
I  could  always  depend  on  it.  I  used  the  full  charge  of 


Five  in  Five  Shots  67 

powder,  and  had  had  swages  made  to  swage  slugs  that 
would  weigh  six  hundred  grains  of  soft  lead.  One  of 
these  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  grizzly's  shoulder  never 
failed  to  decide  matters. 

I  took  a  sitting  position  that  afforded  me  a  right-hand 
quartering  shot  at  the  big  fellow  and  a  left-hand  quarter- 
ing shot  at  the  other,  and  that  would  enable  me  to  act 
very  quickly  after  the  first  shot.  For  this  I  intended  to 
take  my  time,  and  to  trust  to  luck  and  rapid  work  for  the 
second.  And  with  one  cartridge  in  the  rifle,  three  others 
on  the  ground,  and  two  more  between  the  fingers  of  my 
right  hand,  the  old  single-shot  could  be  depended  upon 
for  both. 

When  all  these  things  were  arranged  to  my  liking 
I  waited  for  a  side  shot  at  the  large  bear.  I  did  not  have 
long  to  wait,  and  I  never  looked  through  sights  more  care- 
fully than  when  drawing  that  bead.  There  were  only  about 
two  square  inches  of  bear  visible  when  I  pulled  the  trigger, 
but  they  were  the  exact  square  inches  that  I  wanted,  and 
once  the  shot  was  delivered  I  wasted  no  time  in  finding 
out  the  result  but  turned  to  the  other  bear.  He  acted  ex- 
actly as  I  had  expected.  He  turned  side  on  to  me  in  order 
to  see  what  bedlam  had  broken  loose.  I  caught  him 
squarely  in  the  shoulder,  and  he  wilted  in  his  tracks  as  the 
other  had  done.  Not  a  yard  did  either  of  them  move  after 
being  shot. 

I  now  got  up  to  examine  my  prizes  when  I  heard  a 
clawing  and  rolling  of  gravel  in  the  next  ravine.  Glanc- 
ing about  to  see  what  caused  this  racket  I  faced,  to  my  in- 
tense surprise,  a  mother  bear  and  two  half-grown  cubs, 
their  retreat  to  the  canon  having  been  cut  off,  making  for 


68  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  top  of  the  divide  as  fast  as  they  could  go.  I  dropped 
back  to  my  sitting  position,  with  my  elbows  on  my  knees, 
and  took  a  flying  shot  at  the  old  bear.  She  was  not  over 
seventy-five  yards  away  and  must  have  been  quite  near 
me,  in  the  next  ravine,  when  the  firing  began.  My  bullet 
caught  her  with  a  quartering  rake  forward,  and  rolled  her 
back  into  the  gully,  and  as  this,  of  course,  stopped  the 
cubs,  they  fell  to  the  next  two  shots. 

I  was  soaked  to  the  skin  from  the  wet  brush,  and  plas- 
tered from  head  to  foot  with  mud  and  dirt.  But  that,  and 
the  endless  waiting  and  watching  by  the  clump  of  firs,  yes, 
and  all  the  disappointments  that  had  gone  before,  were 
paid  for  now.  Five  grizzlies  down  to  as  many  shots,  in  as 
many  minutes,  cancels  many  debts.  This  was  the  great- 
est bag  of  grizzlies  that  I  ever  made  single-handed. 


VIII 
GRIZZLY  GOURMETS 

THERE  is  an  old  saying  that  the  way  to  a  man's 
heart  is  through  his  stomach.  This,  in  another 
sense,  is  equally  true  of  bears;  and  more  grizzly  hunters 
have  won  their  chance  to  drive  their  bullets  home  by  study- 
ing their  victim's  appetite  than  by  any  other  method.  It 
follows  that  some  of  the  easiest  hunting  grounds  in  the 
north-west  used  to  be  along  the  streams  where  the  salmon 
ran,  for  the  grizzly  is  a  great  fisherman.  It  is  true  that  in 
the  fishing  season  his  pelt  is  valueless,  as  at  that  time  of 
year  he  has  no  fur  and  but  very  little  hair,  but  the  man 
who  has  come  out  to  get  a  grizzly  is  apt  to  look  upon  this 
circumstance  as,  indeed,  a  misfortune,  but  one  to  be 
taken  philosophically. 

In  the  streams  tributary  to  the  Clearwater  River  in 
Idaho  there  are  two  or  three  runs  of  salmon.  One,  of 
what  are  locally  known  as  the  red,  or  Columbia  River 
salmon,  takes  place  in  the  early  spring,  at  the  time  of  high 
and  muddy  water.  It  does  not,  on  this  account,  attract  so 
much  attention  from  the  bears.  But  later  on,  between  the 
middle  of  August  and  the  middle  of  September,  what  are 
known  as  the  dog  salmon  make  their  way  up  all  the  little 
streams.  At  that  time  the  water  is  clear  and  low;  the 

69 


70  The  Grizzly  Bear 

stream  beds  are  successions  of  small  rapids  and  broken 
riffles;  the  mad,  unreasoning  longing  of  the  salmon  to 
reach  the  uttermost  head  of  salmon  navigation  drives  them 
to  struggle  over  places  where  there  is  scarcely  enough 
water  to  float  them  when  swimming  on  their  sides,  and 
the  grizzlies  gather  to  the  feast. 

These  dog  salmon  grow  to  a  very  large  size.  They 
run  from  two  to  four  feet  in  length,  and  would,  if  fat, 
weigh  fifty  or  sixty  pounds.  But  by  the  time  they  reach 
the  upper  waters  of  the  small  streams  they  are  very  poor 
and  thin  (good,  indeed,  only  for  bear  bait),  and  fall  easy 
victims  to  the  bear  and  other  animals  and  large  birds  that 
prey  on  them. 

The  grizzly  has  his  own  calendar  and  never  gets  mixed 
up  on  it.  About  two  weeks  before  the  salmon  are  due  he 
leaves  the  higher  hills  and  ridges  and  gathers  near  the 
streams,  to  be  on  hand  when  the  fish  appear.  One  can 
easily  tell  where  to  lie  in  wait  for  them.  They  always 
have  their  favorite  fishing  ground,  usually  at  some  shal- 
low riffle,  and  the  creek  bank  is  worn  smooth  by  the  many 
trails  leading  away  into  the  dense  thickets,  where  they  lie 
up  when  not  fishing.  After  locating  one  of  these  fishing 
grounds,  one  has  only  to  select  a  good  hiding  place,  being 
careful  not  to  make  noise  enough  to  frighten  away  the 
bears,  and  then  wait  until  they  come  down  to  fish.  In 
localities  where  they  have  been  little  hunted,  I  have  seen 
them  out  fishing  at  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  to  see  a  griz- 
zly catching  salmon  is  worth  one's  while. 

The  grizzly  usually  sits  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  and 
watches  the  riffles  over  which  the  salmon  try  to  force  their 
way.  H§  will  wait  quietly  enough  until  the  salmon  is 


Grizzly  Gourmets  71 

about  half-way  up  the  riffle  and  struggling  in  its  efforts  to 
make  the  ascent.  Then  he  will  make  a  quick  dash,  and, 
with  one  sweep  of  his  huge  paw,  will  send  a  shower  of 
water  ten  feet  into  the  air,  in  the  midst  of  which  will  be 
seen  a  salmon  sailing  toward  the  creek  bank  and  landing, 
many  times,  ten  or  twenty  feet  beyond.  Then  the  bear 
hurriedly  makes  for  the  shore  and,  if  hungry,  eats  the 
fish.  If  he  has  already  had  his  fill,  he  will  kill  it,  lay  it 
down,  and,  returning,  wait  for  another.  I  have  seen  one 
bear  catch  seventeen  salmon  in  this  manner  before  stop- 
ping, and  he  then  carefully  piled  them  together  and 
buried  them  for  future  use. 

Sometimes  a  bear  will  sit  on  a  log  jam  and  watch  for 
the  fish  to  swim  out  from  under  the  logs.  When  one 
comes  he  will,  with  a  sweep  of  his  paw,  send  it  flying  to 
the  bank.  I  have  often  seen  them  fishing  in  this  way, 
lying  on  a  log  with  one  paw  hanging  in  the  water,  and  it 
is  wonderful  how  many  salmon  they  will  fling  out.  Once 
I  saw  five  old  grizzlies  fishing  from  one  log  jam.  Indeed, 
I  have  watched  for  hours  along  these  streams,  and  some 
of  the  pleasantest  moments  of  my  hunting  trips  have  been 
so  spent;  but  while  I  could  have  killed  many  a  bear  in 
this  way,  I  have  never  killed  but  three. 

When  I  first  began  to  hunt,  I  thought  that  the  salmon 
run  would  be  a  good  opportunity  to  make  a  fine  score  in 
bears,  and  accordingly,  on  one  of  my  trips,  having  found 
a  place  that  was  all  tracked  and  worn  by  grizzlies,  and 
where  there  were  large  piles  of  decayed,  ill-smelling 
salmon,  I  stationed  myself  a  little  above  the  riffle  and 
waited.  About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  an  old  bear 
came  solemnly  out  of  the  thicket  to  the  edge  of  the  stream, 


72  The  Grizzly  Bear 

sniffed  about  for  a  while,  and  then  walked  out  on  a  log 
that  lay  across  the  creek  just  below,  or  at  the  foot  of,  a 
riffle,  where  there  was  quite  a  long  and  deep  hole.  In  such 
holes  the  salmon  sometimes  collect  until  there  are  as  many 
as  fifty.  Then,  all  together,  they  will  begin  to  climb  the 
riffle,  and  for  an  hour  it  is  "Step  lively,  please,"  all  along 
the  line.  Soon  after  this  bear  walked  out  on  the  log,  an- 
other one  made  its  appearance  and  it,  too,  walked  out  on 
the  log  and  sat  there  watching  the  salmon  in  the  hole  below. 
I  had  never,  then,  seen  bears  catch  salmon,  and  so,  for  the 
time  being,  refrained  from  shooting.  The  fish,  however, 
did  not  seem  to  be  in  any  hurry  to  get  up  the  stream,  and 
I  waited  for  an  hour  or  more  before  anything  happened. 
Finally  I  saw  one  of  the  bears  gather  himself,  look  eagerly 
into  the  stream,  and  move  his  head  as  if  following  some- 
thing that  was  stirring  there.  Then  I  saw  the  back  of  a 
salmon  on  the  riffle,  and  the  water  began  to  boil  as  the 
fish  tried  to  force  its  way  through  the  shallows.  When  it 
was  some  feet  above  the  log,  and  about  half-way  over  the 
riffle,  one  of  the  bears  gave  a  spring  and  a  stroke  of  its 
paw,  and  the  trick  was  done.  The  salmon  was  hurled 
through  the  air  to  the  bank  and  out  of  sight  in  the  brush, 
where  the  bear  followed  it.  The  other  bear  was  now  in 
the  act  of  grabbing  a  salmon,  and  he  was  equally  success- 
ful. By  that  time  the  first  one  was  back  again.  There 
was  no  loafing.  Those  bears  were  paid  by  the  piece  and 
seemed  to  know  it.  I  was  altogether  too  interested  to 
think  of  shooting,  but  sat,  open-mouthed,  watching  the 
finest  fishing  I  had  ever  seen. 

The  racket  on  the  riffle  soon  brought  another  bear 
out  from  the  brush,  and  before  the  show  closed  there  were 


Grizzly  Gourmets  73 

four  of  them  engaged  in  the  sport.  They  must  have 
caught  fifteen  or  twenty  before  there  was  any  let  up.  Then 
the  salmon  did  not  come  so  fast,  and  one  bear,  on  going  to 
kill  his  catch,  forgot  to  come  back.  The  other  three  were 
evidently  becoming  restless,  as  if  they  had  had  about 
enough  for  the  time  being,  and  I  thought  it  high  time  to 
begin  shooting  if  I  meant  to  do  any. 

I  was  then  using  my  single-shot  rifle,  made  to  order  for 
me  by  the  Winchester  people:  the  .45-100,  in  which  I  shot 
one  hundred  grains  of  powder  and  six  hundred  grains  of 
lead.  It  was  one  of  the  guns  that  killed  at  both  ends,  but 
I  liked  it  better  than  any  I  have  ever  carried.  I  used  it  for 
years,  and  I  discarded  it  for  a  lighter  .30-30  only  when  I 
gave  up  hunting  with  a  gun  and  took  to  hunting  with  a 
camera.  Personally,  I  could  depend  on  this  old  rifle  for 
a  sure  three  shots  in  twelve  seconds,  by  holding  two  spare 
cartridges  between  the  fingers  of  my  right  hand,  and  I 
have  always  thought  that  a  hunter  is  apt  to  be  much  more 
careful  if  he  knows  that  every  shot  must  tell.  I  always  got 
as  close  to  the  game  as  I  could  before  shooting,  and  what- 
ever I  shot,  it  generally  dropped,  if  hit,  and  I  was  usually 
near  enough  to  be  sure  of  hitting. 

I  presume  that,  as  I  looked  at  the  three  remaining 
bears,  I  was  the  victim  of  what  nowadays  would  be  called 
a  game-hog  feeling.  At  any  rate,  I  found  myself  figuring 
on  how  I  might  get  them  all  before  they  could  get  out  of 
reach.  I  was  a  little  up-stream  from  them,  and  not  over 
fifty  yards  away.  I  figured  that  they  would  not  come 
toward  my  side  of  the  creek  when  I  fired,  and  that  if  I 
killed  the  one  nearest  to  the  other  shore,  its  body,  if  it  re- 
mained on  the  log,  would  retard  the  others  in  their  effort 


74  The  Grizzly  Bear 

to  escape.  There  was  room  for  but  two  of  them  on  the  log 
at  one  time,  and  the  third  was  now  on  my  bank.  The 
largest  was  in  the  middle,  the  other  two  being  about  of  a 
size.  I  made  up  my  mind,  therefore,  to  first  chance  a  shot 
at  the  small  bear  on  the  log  and  then  to  turn  my  attention 
to  the  largest  one.  Afterward,  if  things  worked  out  as  I 
hoped,  I  could  pay  my  compliments  to  the  one  on  shore. 

I  accordingly  fired  at  the  small  bear,  and  hitting  him 
square  in  the  shoulder,  he  dropped  promptly  and  without 
a  murmur,  but  he  dropped  into  the  pool.  Before  the 
other  one  on  the  log  had  time  to  make  much  of  an  inves- 
tigation I  hit  him  near  the  same  place,  but  a  little  further 
back,  and  he  made  for  the  shore.  I  paid  no  attention  to 
him,  as  I  knew  that  he  was  fatally  wounded  and  would  not 
go  far,  and  slapping  my  third  cartridge  in  place,  I  turned 
to  look  for  the  third  bear,  but  all  I  could  see  was  the  sway- 
ing of  the  bushes  where  he  had  disappeared.  The  second 
one  shot  went  some  fifty  yards  after  reaching  the  bank, 
when  he  fell,  and  was  quite  dead  when  I  got  to  him. 

But  now  that  the  excitement  was  over  and  I  had  time 
to  take  stock  of  my  achievement,  my  satisfaction  was 
short-lived.  The  hides  were  not  worth  taking  off".  It  had 
been  a  useless  slaughter  and  I  was  sorry  that  I  had  killed. 
I  took  the  large  teeth  and  long  claws  of  the  dead  bears, 
but  since  then  I  have  never,  but  once,  shot  at  a  grizzly 
when  it  was  fishing. 

This  was  some  years  later.  I  was  out  hunting  with  a 
man  from  New  York  who  was  very  anxious  to  kill  a  griz- 
zly, having  never  shot  one;  so  we  made  our  way  to  one  of 
the  creeks,  where  the  bears  fish,  and  soon  finding  a  suita- 
ble place,  began  our  watch.  This  was  some  two  miles 


Grizzly  Gourmets  75 

below  our  camp,  where  there  was  quite  a  wide  bottom, 
through  which  the  creek  ran.  There  were  several  chan- 
nels in  the  stream  that  had  been  formed  by  log-jam  ob- 
structions during  high  water,  and  among  these  channels 
were  several  islands.  It  was  an  ideal  fishing  ground,  but, 
as  the  bears  worked  all  the  channels,  it  was  an  even  guess 
as  to  just  where  we  would  catch  them.  For  a  couple  of 
days  we  watched  one  place  without  success,  and  on  the 
second  evening  were  returning  to  camp,  after  watching 
until  dark,  and  were  crossing  one  of  these  islands  on  a 
foot  log.  Just  as  we  passed  around  the  large  root  at  the 
butt  of  a  log  there  was  a  snort  and  a  splash  that,  expect- 
ing nothing  of  the  sort,  startled  us  and  nearly  threw  us  off 
our  feet.  The  commotion  was  not  over  ten  feet  from  us 
on  the  other  side  of  the  creek,  where  the  bank  was  three 
feet  high  and  the  water  ran  two  or  three  feet  deep.  Dark 
as  it  was,  we  could  see  the  water  splashing  and  hear 
something  trying  to  get  up  the  bank,  but  could  not 
make  out  distinctly  what  it  was,  although  from  the  snort 
we  had  heard  we  knew  that  it  must  be  a  bear. 

My  companion  was  packing  three  or  four  salmon  that 
we  had  caught  and  were  going  to  put  out  for  bait,  while  I 
had  an  eight  by  ten  camera  on  my  back.  There  was 
a  sudden  dropping  of  fish  and  an  attempt  to  shed  the 
camera,  but  by  the  time  this  was  done  the  bear  had 
climbed  the  bank.  For  an  instant,  however,  he  appeared 
silhouetted  against  the  western  light,  and  I  saw  his  gray 
coat  and  took  a  quick  shot  at  him.  This  brought  out  an- 
other snort,  with  much  breaking  of  branches,  and  we  could 
hear  him  for  quite  a  while  as  he  charged  through  the  brush 
in  the  bottom. 


76  The  Grizzly  Bear 

There  was  no  use  in  trying  to  follow  him  in  the  dark, 
nor,  indeed,  would  it  have  been  advisable,  and  we  went  on 
to  camp,  thinking  to  trail  him  in  the  morning  in  case  we 
found  that  he  was  hit.  But  in  the  night  it  began  to  rain, 
and  it  was  still  raining  when  we  started  out  in  the  morn- 
ing. Under  some  thick  trees,  where  the  rain  had  not 
washed  it  out,  we  found  plenty  of  blood,  and  at  other 
places  the  bear  had  lain  down  for  some  time,  but  after  we 
got  out  of  the  thick  timber  rain  had  washed  the  blood 
off  the  grass  and  leaves,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  follow 
the  trail.  We  cross-cut  the  bottom  and  skirted  the  base  of 
the  mountain,  but  we  could  not  find  the  bear,  and  finally 
we  gave  up  the  search.  Then,  some  three  days  later,  our 
cook  saw  several  buzzards  circling  about  and  swooping 
down  over  near  the  mountain,  and  he  went  out  to  see  what 
it  all  meant.  He  found,  between  two  large  boulders  that 
were  nearly  overgrown  with  brush,  the  body  of  the  old 
grizzly  that  we  had  wounded.  He  had  crawled  in  between 
the  rocks  and  had  covered  the  entrance  so  completely 
that,  though  we  passed  it  twice  at  least,  we  never  saw  it. 
The  hide  was  quite  useless.  We  took  the  teeth  and  nails 
of  the  poor  old  fellow,  but  I  would  gladly  have  returned 
them  to  him  with  his  life,  if  I  could  have. 


IX 

TRAILING 

TRAILING  the  grizzly  bear  is,  in  the  language  of  the 
regions  which  he  inhabits,  "no  cinch."  Of  all  the 
forms  of  still  hunting  or  stalking  open  to  the  sportsman 
of  America,  it  is  the  most  difficult  and  the  most  demanding. 
Not  only  is  the  grizzly  phenomenally  quick  to  catch  every 
sound,  not  only  is  his  sense  of  smell  amazingly  developed, 
but  he  is  particularly  cunning  in  guarding  himself  against 
danger  from  the  rear,  and  his  senses  are  at  least  matched 
by  his  shrewdness. 

In  following  the  trail  of  any  wild  animal,  an  observant 
person  soon  begins  to  learn  the  peculiarities  of  his  quarry. 
Especially  if  there  be  a  slight  coating  of  snow  on  the  ground 
the  record  of  recent  hours  is  plainly  written,  for  him  who 
trails  to  read.  And  as  "Moccasin  Joe"  is  at  once  more 
human  in  his  proceedings  and  more  capricious  in  his 
occupations  than  any  of  his  fellow  denizens  of  the  forest, 
as  he  exceeds  these  also  in  cunning  and  endurance,  the 
tracking  of  an  old  grizzly,  made  wise  and  wary  by  years 
of  experience,  is  the  most  searching  test  of  a  hunter's  skill, 
and  offers  him,  both  in  entertainment  and  satisfaction,  the 
greatest  reward. 

Upon  finding  the  trail  of  a  bear,  if  the  knowing  hunter 

77 


78  The  Grizzly  Bear 

will  take  his  time  and  go  along  leisurely  and  without  mak- 
ing too  much  noise,  he  will,  if  the  bear  has  not  too  great  a 
start  of  him,  be  reasonably  likely  to  obtain  a  shot.  But  he 
will  find  that  cunning  has  to  be  matched  with  cunning, 
and  that  unless  he  keeps  his  wits  on  watch  and  remembers 
that  he  is  not  tracking  some  stupid  beast  that  takes  no 
thought  of  who  or  what  may  be  behind,  the  bear  will 
quietly  make  a  detour,  sniff  the  wind  that  reveals  the 
presence  of  the  huntsman,  and  then,  abandoning  less 
pressing  interests  for  the  time  being,  turn  his  attention  to 
preserving  his  own  hide  from  capture,  and  either  hur- 
riedly cross  the  divide  or  take  to  the  thickest  jungles,  to 
lie  low  until  the  coast  is  clear. 

Once  the  hunter  is  discovered  it  is  usually  just  as  well 
to  look  for  another  bear.  I  have  always  found  a  chase 
under  such  conditions  to  be  a  long  and  useless  one,  and 
not  likely  to  result  in  the  death  of  a  bear  once  in  a  hun- 
dred times.  Twice  only  have  I  bagged  my  bear  under 
such  circumstances;  and  then  it  was  in  a  country  where 
I  was  able  to  cut  across  and  head  him  off  as  he  passed 
along  the  side  of  a  mountain. 

The  hunter's  first  concern,  of  course,  is  to  determine 
as  closely  as  possible  how  long  it  has  been  since  the  bear 
passed  by.  Then,  unless  the  wind  is  in  the  right  direction 
for  direct  trailing,  wide  detours  must  be  made  to  the 
right  or  left,  striking  the  trail  far  ahead.  If  the  bear  is 
still  going  in  the  same  direction,  another  detour  must  be 
made,  and  this  must  be  kept  up  (sometimes  for  several 
days)  until  the  bear  is  either  sighted  or  has  taken  a  course 
that  the  trailer  can  follow  without  fear  of  the  wind's  car- 
rying his  scent  to  the  game.  This  method  of  roundabout 


Trailing  79 

trailing  is  not  as  interesting  as  it  is  to  follow  the  trail  direct, 
but  it  is  much  safer  and  more  likely  to  crown  the  hunter's 
efforts  with  success. 

In  following  one  of  these  trails  one  will  find,  every 
little  while,  where  the  bear  has  made  a  circuit  to  the  side 
and  rear,  so  as  to  get  to  windward  of  his  own  back  trail, 
and  so  assure  himself  that  no  danger  follows  on  his  track. 

The  bear  is  wary  and  he  often  will  make  a  detour  of  a 
mile  or  more,  and  will  stand  quietly  for  some  time  until 
satisfied  that  there  is  nothing  of  a  suspicious  nature 
within  reasonable  distance  of  him.  Then,  if  it  is  autumn 
and  in  the  mountains,  he  will  resume  his  hunt  for  gophers 
and  marmots. 

The  grizzly  usually  goes  into  winter  quarters  among 
the  rocks,  at  a  much  higher  altitude  than  does  the  black 
bear,  and  as  hibernating  rodents  are  the  only  food  he  can 
find  along  the  high  peaks  and  ridges,  he  devotes  much 
time,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  to  digging  them  out  and 
devouring  them.  Throughout  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains, 
and  in  the  Selkirks  of  British  Columbia,  the  last  food  that 
the  grizzly  obtains  before  denning  up  are  the  hoary  or 
whistling  marmots,  and  the  little  animals  commonly 
called  gophers,  but  which,  properly  speaking,  are  Co- 
lumbian ground  squirrels.  These  latter  inhabit  not  only 
all  parts  of  these  mountains,  from  the  highest  and  most 
rocky  peaks  to  the  lowest  valleys,  but  are  also  a  great  pest 
to  the  farmer.  One  of  them  is  about  as  large  as  an  Eastern 
gray  squirrel,  but  they  are  slightly  different  in  shape,  be- 
ing less  long  and  slim,  and  in  fact  more  like  woodchucks 
• — short-legged  and  very  plump  and  heavy  of  body.  The 
hoary  or  whistling  marmot  is  much  larger  than  the 


8o  The  Grizzly  Bear 

ground  squirrel.  Many  of  them  grow  to  weigh  twenty  or 
twenty-five  pounds.  They  are  about  the  size  of  a  very 
large  badger,  and  as  several  of  them  often  live  in  the  same 
den,  the  bear,  if  he  can  reach  them,  obtains  quite  a  feast. 
It  always  seemed  to  me,  however,  that  in  the  case  of  the 
ground  squirrel,  the  grizzly's  game  was  hardly  worth  the 
candle;  for  at  best  one  of  these  little  rodents  is  but  a 
mouthful  for  a  bear,  and  in  many  instances  I  have  found 
where,  after  digging  out  cartloads  of  dirt  and  rocks,  the 
bears  had  had  only  their  trouble  for  their  pains.  But  no 
amount  of  labor  seems  to  daunt  them.  I  have  seen  many 
such  holes  that  were  from  eight  to  ten  feet  deep  and  twelve 
or  fifteen  feet  long,  where  one  or  more  grizzlies  had  thus 
dug  for  a  nest  of  marmots.  And  a  few  years  ago,  while 
hunting  through  the  Selkirks  with  Mr.  G.  O.  Shields,  we 
came  across  a  tremendous  hole  thus  made  by  grizzlies. 
There  were  literally  carloads  of  dirt  and  rocks  taken  from 
the  opening  and  piled  up  on  the  mountainside,  but 
whether  success  had  attended  the  diggers'  efforts,  and  the 
marmots  had  been  captured,  we  were  unable  to  determine. 
When  snow  is  on  the  ground  it  is  usually  possible  to  tell 
whether  a  capture  has  been  made  from  the  telltale  drops 
of  blood. 

It  is  at  this  season  that  I  have  most  enjoyed  trailing 
the  grizzly,  not  only  because  his  tracks  are  plain,  but  be- 
cause so  many  of  his  doings  are  written  by  the  way. 

Some  years  ago,  while  hunting  along  one  of  these  high 
divides,  I  came  across  the  track  of  a  large  grizzly  that  was 
hunting  squirrels  and  marmots.  As  it  was  quite  early  in 
the  morning  I  decided  to  put  in  the  day,  if  necessary, 
trying  to  get  him.  I  saw  that  the  bear  had  passed  along 


Trailing  81 

either  during  the  evening  before  or  some  time  in  the  night. 
I  knew  this  because  the  snow  that  had  been  displaced  by 
him  had  frozen  later  and  the  tracks  had  not  thawed  out 
any,  as  (the  day  before  having  been  warm)  they  would 
have  done  had  they  been  made  then.  I  judged  the  bear 
had  from  six  to  twelve  hours  the  start  of  me.  But  this 
did  not  discourage  me,  for  I  knew  that  he  would  spend 
many  of  them  in  digging  for  food,  if  he  found  a  promising 
lead. 

Near  the  point  where  I  found  his  trail  he  had  dug  for 
a  gopher,  but  after  getting  down  some  two  feet  he  had 
struck  a  rock  and  had  given  it  up.  From  there  he  had 
travelled  along  the  side  of  the  mountain,  stopping  to  ex- 
amine all  the  small  bunches  of  bushes  and  loose  rocks  for 
marmots.  Here  and  there  he  had  turned  over  a  rock,  but 
as  there  was  little  likelihood  of  finding  any  grubs  or  worms 
at  this  time  of  the  year  he  only  stopped  to  explore  the  dens 
of  the  gophers.  For  several  hours  he  had  moved  along 
slowly,  as  I  could  tell  from  the  fact  that  his  steps  were 
rather  short  and  that  every  little  while  he  had  stopped 
and  stood  still,  presumably  for  several  minutes. 

Twice  he  had  made  a  detour  up  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain and  had  then  trailed  back  for  half  a  mile  to  a  point 
where  he  could  sniff  the  wind  and  obtain  a  view  of  the 
country  he  had  passed  through.  Then,  on  the  latter  of 
these  occasions,  he  had  made  himself  a  bed  in  some 
bushes  and  had  slept  for  several  hours,  as  shown  by  the 
snow  that  had  been  melted  from  the  heat  of  his  body. 

After  his  nap  the  bear  returned  by  the  trail  he  had 
made,  walking  along  back  to  where  he  had  turned  off  to 
make  the  detour.  This  they  sometimes  do,  but  not  often, 


82  The  Grizzly  Bear 

and  when  I  first  saw  this  track  I  thought  that  another 
bear  had  come  into  the  game,  but  found,  on  following  it 
around,  that  it  was  the  same  bear. 

From  this  point  the  animal  went  in  rather  a  straight 
line  along  the  mountain  for  several  miles.  Then  he  found 
the  den  of  a  family  of  marmots  which  he  proceeded  to 
unearth.  For  half  a  mile  before  reaching  the  place  I 
could  see  the  dirt  piled  up  on  the  snow,  and  knew  I  had 
gained  several  hours  on  the  bear.  The  hole  he  had  dug 
was  larger  than  miners  are  annually  required  to  excavate 
in  order  to  hold  a  mining  claim.  The  den  ran  in  under 
several  layers  of  loose  flat  rocks,  some  of  which  were  two 
or  three  feet  long  by  half  as  many  wide,  and  several 
inches  thick.  These  he  had  ripped  out  easily  and  thrown 
down  hill,  and  the  dirt  and  small  boulders  had  been 
hurled  out  and  now  covered  the  snow  all  about  for  a  space 
of  ten  or  twelve  feet. 

On  the  rocks  and  snow  were  large  spots  and  blotches 
of  blood,  telling  of  the  feast  that  had  rewarded  his  labors, 
and  that  there  had  been  more  than  one  marmot  was 
shown  by  the  numerous  tracks.  These  animals  had  bur- 
rowed down  some  six  or  seven  feet  into  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  and  under  a  large  flat  stone  they  had  scooped 
out  a  little  cave,  some  three  feet  in  diameter,  where  they 
had  a  soft  bed  of  grasses  that  they  had  carried  in.  When 
the  grizzly  broke  his  way  into  their  home,  there  had  been 
a  great  rush  for  freedom.  And  as  the  sides  of  the  hole 
dug  by  the  bear  were  rather  steep,  the  marmots,  in  trying 
to  escape,  were  at  a  disadvantage.  The  whole  story  was 
plainly  written  in  the  soft  earth  and  the  snow.  Large 
impressions  in  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the  hole  showed 


Trailing  83 

where  the  bear  had  struck  at  the  flying  marmots.  One  of 
these  latter  had  evidently  succeeded  in  making  the  out- 
side, but  the  tracks  of  the  bear  showed  where  he  had  fol- 
lowed in  hot  pursuit,  and  a  smear  of  blood  on  the  snow 
marked  the  end  of  the  little  fellow's  dash  for  life.  After 
killing  and  eating  this  one,  the  bear  had  returned  to  the 
marmot  den  and  devoured  the  remaining  marmots  already 
killed;  after  which  he  had  come  out,  walked  around  for 
a  while,  and  then  struck  out  again  in  search  of  more 
provender. 

For  a  mile  or  more  he  had  now  kept  along  the  same 
ridge,  then  turned  to  the  right,  crossed  the  divide,  and 
made  off  down  the  side  of  the  mountain,  without  stopping 
until  he  had  crossed  the  bottom  and  was  well  up  the 
opposite  slope.  On  this  ridge  he  had  stopped  and  taken 
another  nap,  and  I  knew  that  he  was  now  but  a  short  dis- 
tance ahead  of  me,  for,  although  it  was  well  along  in  the 
afternoon,  and  the  snow  had  become  so  soft  that  it  would 
pack,  it  had  not  melted  any  in  the  bear's  trail  since  he  had 
left  his  resting-place. 

The  question  was,  could  I  catch  up  with  him  before 
night  ?  To  do  it  would  require  all  the  caution  and  skill 
I  possessed,  for  it  was  evident  from  his  movements  that 
I  was  dealing  with  a  bear  of  the  "old  school." 

The  animal  now  kept  along  the  ridge  for  several  miles, 
going  back  in  the  direction  from  which  he  had  come  the 
night  before.  There  was  apparently  no  wind,  but  I  was 
taking  no  chances  on  this  score,  and  whenever  I  came  to 
a  patch  of  bushes  or  timber,  I  made  a  detour  up  the  moun- 
tain to  a  point  where  I  could  see  well  below  me,  and  then 
circled  until  I  had  found  where  the  be^ar  had  passed. 


84  The  Grizzly  Bear 

I  would  then  search  carefully  the  open  hillside  as  far  as 
possible  before  moving  ahead  on  the  trail.  Once  I  was 
able,  with  the  aid  of  my  field  glasses,  to  make  out  his 
course  for  nearly  a  half  mile,  where  he  had  climbed  up 
the  side  of  an  open  hill. 

By  this  time,  however,  the  sun  had  gone  down  and 
trailing  was  now  not  only  necessarily  slow  work,  but  bad 
policy,  since  a  wrong  move  would  spoil  my  whole  game. 
I  was  ten  miles  or  more  from  camp,  and  only  a  short  dis- 
tance behind  the  bear,  yet  I  did  not  dare  follow  him,  for  fear 
he  would  discover  me  and  I  would  lose  him  altogether. 
I  therefore  turned  down  the  mountain  into  the  bottom 
where  there  was  a  little  creek,  built  a  small  lean-to  of  fir 
boughs  back  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  from  a  large  boulder, 
got  up  plenty  of  wood,  built  a  fire  against  the  rock,  and  ate 
the  lunch  I  had  brought  with  me.  The  lean-to  sheltered 
me  from  the  wind,  the  heat  reflected  from  the  rock  made 
my  camp  comfortable,  and  when  my  fire  needed  replenish- 
ing during  the  night,  Jack  Frost  woke  me  up  to  attend 
to  it. 

At  the  first  streak  of  day  I  started  up  the  mountain  to 
the  point  where  I  had  left  the  trail  the  evening  before,  and 
took  up  the  stern  chase  with  renewed  interest.  I  followed 
up  mountains  and  down  gulches  for  miles  without  finding 
where  the  animal  had  stopped  to  dig  for  anything,  and 
I  began  to  think  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  leave 
the  country.  At  last,  however,  I  saw  a  pile  of  dirt  far 
ahead,  and  knew  that  he  had  stopped  at  least  for  a  short 
time.  The  hole  was  not  so  large  or  so  deep  as  the  first 
one,  but  it  had  evidently  yielded  a  mouthful  or  two  of 
ground  squirrel  for  breakfast.  Farther  along  he  had  dug 


Trailing  85 

other  small  holes  for  squirrels,  but  none  had  detained  him 
very  long. 

But  on  the  next  ridge  I  found  another  bed,  and  knew, 
since  the  snow  was  not  frozen  around  it  and  there  was  no 
frost  on  the  leaves  and  grass  where  he  had  lain,  that  bruin 
had  left  it  after  daybreak.  Then,  too,  the  heat  from  his 
body  had  melted  the  snow  and  left  the  ground  damp,  and 
as  this  had  not  had  time  to  freeze  I  knew  that  he  had  but 
recently  moved  on.  In  the  next  mile  he  had  only  stopped 
once,  and  once  he  had  made  the  usual  detour  to  see  if  all 
was  well,  and  had  then  wandered  aimlessly  about  for 
a  while  and  finally  turned  toward  a  thick  clump  of  bushes 
and  stunted  trees  that  grew  on  the  side  of  the  mountain  in 
a  small  ravine. 

Searching  the  side  of  the  hill  with  the  glasses,  I  could 
plainly  see  where  he  had  entered  the  brush,  but  could  not 
see  where  he  had  left  it.  There  was,  however,  one  point 
of  possible  exit  that  I  could  not  see,  so  I  climbed  up  and 
around  the  spot,  and  looking  down  from  above,  found  that 
the  bear  must  indeed  be  there,  and  within  shooting  dis- 
tance. Selecting  then  a  position  from  which  I  commanded 
all  the  strategic  points,  I  rolled  a  small  rock  down  the 
mountain  nearly,  but  not  quite,  into  the  bushes.  This 
went  bounding  down,  making  much  noise,  and  soon  I  saw 
the  small  trees  near  the  centre  of  the  brush  move,  and 
knew  that  the  bear  was  on  the  alert.  I  could  follow  his 
movements  by  those  of  the  bushes,  and  when  he  showed 
his  head  I  was  ready  for  him.  He  did  not  come  out 
with  a  rush,  but  walked  quietly  to  his  death;  and  as 
his  head  pushed  through  the  edge  of  the  bushes,  one 
of  my  old  six-hundred-grain  bullets  met  him  at  the 


86  The  Grizzly  Bear 

butt  of  the  ear,  and   the  trailing  was  over.  He  never 

knew  just  what  it   was  that   had    awakened  him,    nor 

did  he  ever  know  just  what  it  was  that  put  him  back 
to  sleep. 


A  CHARGING  GRIZZLY 

FOR  several  years  I  had  hunted  grizzlies  by  stalking, 
and  by  watching  their  feeding  grounds,  and  in  this 
way  killed  many,  but  many  also  got  away.  Sometimes 
I  would  see  as  many  as  five  or  six  in  a  berry  patch  and  bag 
only  one  or  two;  sometimes  I  got  three;  once  I  got  four; 
and  once,  as  I  have  shown,  I  was  able  to  get  five.  Yet 
on  one  occasion  I  saw  nine  large  ones  together,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  killing  only  one,  and  that  the  smallest  of  the  lot. 
So  that  I  thought  it  might  be  a  good  plan  to  get  some  bear- 
dogs,  and  accordingly  set  about  finding  out  what  I  could 
about  them. 

In  one  of  the  sporting  magazines  about  this  time  I  saw 
bear-dogs  advertised  for  sale,  and  a  letter  to  their  owner 
developed  a  correspondence  that  finally  resulted  in  a 
hunting  trip  with  a  customer  to  whom  he  had  sold  a  dog. 
This  customer,  Mr.  John  D.  O'Brien,  in  due  time  arrived 
at  Spokane  with  the  bear-dog  and  another  hound  that  he 
had  brought  along  to  be  taught  bear  hunting.  The  bear- 
dog  was  a  mongrel,  but  of  what  breeds  no  living  man 
could  guess.  He  answered  to  the  name  of  Nebo.  The 
third,  human,  member  of  the  party  was  Mr.  Martin  Spen- 
cer, and  I  secured  from  an  old  Indian  two  likely  looking 

87 


88  The  Grizzly  Bear 

pups,  one  of  which  he  claimed  was  a  bear-dog.  It  was 
a  regular  Indian  dog  of  about  five  or  six  colors,  and  proved 
one  of  the  best  bear  fighters  I  have  ever  seen.  The  other 
was  a  cross  between  a  brindle  bull  and  a  staghound,  and, 
while  he  had  never  hunted  any,  he  could  whip  anything, 
aside  from  a  bear,  that  he  came  across. 

For  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  our  way  lay  across  the 
Palouse  farming  country.  We  then  crossed  the  main  fork 
of  the  North  Clearwater  River  and  struck  into  the  Bitter 
Root  range  from  the  west.  Nothing  of  interest  occurred 
until  we  struck  the  hills,  when  Jack's  hound  jumped 
a  deer,  and  I  suppose  he  is  still  after  it,  as  he  never  re- 
turned. 

We  soon,  now,  began  to  see  bear  tracks,  and  in  order 
to  give  the  Eastern  bear-dog  all  the  chances  there  were, 
Jack  thought  it  better  not  to  let  my  curs  loose  until  his 
dog  had  brought  the  bears  to  bay.  When  we  showed 
Nebo  a  bear  track  he  would  grow  vastly  excited,  disap- 
pear up  the  trail,  and  after  a  few  minutes  we  would  hear 
him  barking.  But  when  we  reached  him  we  always  found 
that  he  had  treed,  not  bears,  but  "fool  hens" — a  species 
of  grouse.  And  for  two  months  we  followed  that  dog  up- 
hill and  down,  and  not  a  bear  did  he  tree.  However,  we 
killed  a  number  of  black  bears  without  his  assistance. 

One  evening  after  a  hard  day's  climb  over  mountains 
where  there  was  no  trail,  we  camped  on  the  west  side  of 
a  bottom,  some  hundreds  of  yards  from  the  large  stream 
that  ran  through  it.  The  bottom  contained  several  hun- 
dred acres  covered  with  high  grass  and  willow  bushes, 
and  as  we  got  into  camp  early  I  took  my  gun,  after  un- 
packing, and  went  up  the  stream  to  hunt  for  a  way  out, 


A  Charging  Grizzly  89 

since  we  were  cross-cutting  the  country  without  regard  to 
trails.  I  soon  came  to  a  small  stream,  blocked  in  several 
places  by  beaver  dams,  and  in  part  of  the  bottom,  which 
was  flooded  nearly  a  foot  deep,  I  noticed  where  some 
animal  had  a  wallow.  At  first  I  paid  no  attention  to  this, 
thinking  it  was  a  moose  wallow,  but  after  crossing  the 
creek  I  saw  the  tracks  of  a  large  grizzly  and  of  several 
smaller  ones,  and  in  a  clump  of  willows  farther  on  I  found 
several  beds  where  the  bears  had  been  lying.  However, 
I  saw  nothing  of  the  bears  and,  having  got  the  lay  of  the 
land,  I  returned  to  camp. 

Upon  my  arrival  I  told  Jack  that  there  were  some  griz- 
zlies out  in  the  willows,  and  suggested  (this  having  become 
a  standing  joke)  that  his  dog  might  be  able  to  find  them. 
I  also  told  him  that  there  were  some  beaver  in  the  small 
creek,  since  he  had  been  abusing  the  country  for  its  lack  of 
beaver,  and  had  been  anxious  for  some  beaver-tail  soup, 
having  heard  that  it  was  a  great  luxury.  Taking  his  gun 
and  dog,  Jack  now  went  over  to  the  willows,  thrashed 
around  for  a  short  time,  and  returned  without  seeing  any- 
thing. He  said  that  the  tracks  were  old,  as  Nebo  would 
pay  no  attention  to  them,  and  tying  up  the  dog,  he  went 
back  to  the  creek  to  watch  for  beaver.  After  a  while  we 
heard  a  shot,  and  soon  he  returned  to  camp,  telling  Martin 
that  he  had  wounded  a  beaver,  but  that  it  had  escaped  to 
its  house  in  the  stream,  and  he  was  unable  to  get  it.  Mar- 
tin proposed  that  they  go  and  tear  the  house  to  pieces  and 
thus  obtain  the  animal,  and  Jack  again  loosed  the  dog, 
shouldered  his  gun,  and,  Martin  taking  a  long-handled 
shovel  which  we  had  brought  along  to  prospect  with, 
they  set  out. 


90  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Jack's  gun  was  a  single-shot,  .40-70  Winchester.  He 
claimed  that  a  good  hunter  should  never  carry  more  than 
four  cartridges  for  a  day's  hunt,  and  consequently  he 
never  carried  but  that  number.  One  of  these  was  always 
in  the  gun,  the  other  three  were  tucked  away  in  his  pocket, 
one  in  each  finger  of  an  old  kid  glove. 

That  evening  there  were  three  old  miners  camped  near 
us,  and  in  about  ten  minutes  after  Jack  and  Martin  left, 
we  heard  the  dog  bark  and  the  report  of  Jack's  rifle.  In 
a  short  time  there  was  another  report  and  the  barking  of 
the  dog  continued.  Almost  immediately  another  shot  was 
heard  and  the  miners  began  to  wonder  as  to  the  cause  of 
the  shooting.  I  told  them  that  the  boys  were  after  beaver 
and  that,  as  Jack  never  took  more  than  four  cartridges 
with  him,  the  fun  was  about  over.  And  just  then  we 
heard  the  report  of  the  last  shot.  I  was  about  ready  to 
turn  into  bed,  as  I  was  tired  after  the  long  day,  and  had 
already  taken  off  my  shoes,  when  I  heard  a  shout  and 
saw  Martin  coming  through  the  flooded  bottom  ten  feet 
at  a  jump,  splashing  water  as  he  came.  His  hat  was 
missing  and  he  acted  like  a  limited  express  going  through 
without  stops. 

And  as  he  came  he  yelled:  "Get  your  gun!  Turn  the 
dogs  loose!  There  are  some  grizzlies  out  there  and  I 
guess  they've  killed  Jack,"  I  managed  to  make  out.  So 
I  loosed  the  dogs,  caught  up  my  gun,  and,  without  wait- 
ing to  put  on  my  shoes,  made  the  water  fly  nearly  as  high 
as  Martin  had  in  coming  in.  I  jumped  the  small  stream, 
and,  landing  among  the  stumps  of  some  shrub  willows 
that  had  been  eaten  off  by  the  beaver,  punched  several 
holes  in  the  bottom  of  my  feet.  I  could  not,  however, 


A  Charging  Grizzly  91 

stop  for  that,  and  as  I  hurried  on  I  could  hear  the  water 
splash  behind  me  as  Martin,  having  secured  his  rifle, 
hastened  after  me.  Then,  as  I  came  into  the  open,  I  saw 
Jack  standing  at  the  edge  of  some  timber,  leaning  on  his 
rifle,  while  in  front  of  him,  sixty  feet  or  so  away,  a  large 
grizzly  lay  rolling  and  bawling  as  she  rolled.  In  the  wil- 
lows across  the  creek  there  was  a  big  commotion — bears 
bawling  and  Nebo  barking;  my  curs  joined  in  the  up- 
roar; a  bear  showed  his  head  and  I  sent  a  slug  into  it; 
Martin  came  up  in  time  to  get  a  shot  at  another;  a  third 
appeared  and  was  instantly  killed.  We  had  four  bears 
down  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  more  coming. 

Martin,  in  telling  of  the  beginning  of  the  adventure, 
said  that  when  they  came  to  the  small  creek  and  looked 
over  the  beaver  house,  they  decided  that  they  would  have 
to  cut  away  a  dam  below  it  and  run  off  the  water.  Jack, 
therefore,  placed  his  gun  against  a  tree  and  went  forty  or 
fifty  yards  down-stream  to  the  dam.  As  they  were  about 
to  begin  cutting  this  away,  they  were  attracted  by  a  noise 
in  the  willows  across  the  creek,  and  Martin  had  advised 
Jack  to  get  his  gun,  thinking  it  might  be  a  moose.  How- 
ever, as  they  heard  no  further  noise,  they  went  to  work 
on  the  dam,  and  when  they  again  looked  up  they  saw  an 
enormous  grizzly  standing  on  its  hind  legs  and  looking 
over  the  willows  at  them.  The  dog  had  then  begun  to 
bark,  and  the  bear,  accepting  the  challenge,  started  for 
them.  Jack  sprinted  for  his  gun,  and  Martin,  sticking  his 
spade  into  the  mud,  shinned  up  a  tree,  prepared  to  referee 
the  show.  As  Jack  got  his  gun  the  grizzly  appeared  at 
the  water's  edge  directly  opposite,  and  before  he  could 
shoot,  jumped  for  him,  landing  in  the  middle  of  the 


92  The  Grizzly  Bear 

stream.  Jack  now  put  in  a  shot,  and  as  his  small  supply 
of  ammunition  was  unhandily  packed,  was  compelled  to 
strike  out  for  the  timber,  digging  for  cartridges  as  he  ran. 

The  bear-dog  had  been  very  bold  when  the  bear  was 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  but  when  it  forded  the 
stream  Nebo  with  great  discretion  retired  some  two  hun- 
dred yards  across  the  bottom;  and  had  Jack's  life  de- 
pended on  the  dog's  attacks,  he  would  probably  have 
been  slaughtered  then  and  there.  And  yet,  to  do  Nebo 
justice,  his  barking  saved  Jack's  life  in  the  end.  Martin, 
from  his  perch,  could  see  Jack's  effort  to  reach  the  timber, 
and  to  reload  his  gun  before  the  bear  overtook  him,  and, 
as  the  latter  got  nearer  and  nearer,  he  called,  "Look  out, 
Jack,  she's  after  you!"  Jack,  with  this  stimulus,  made 
the  timber,  and  the  barking  of  the  dog  seems  to  have 
turned  back  the  bear.  Jack  now  got  at  his  cartridges  and, 
coming  out  from  behind  his  tree,  took  another  shot  at  the 
grizzly  from  a  distance  of  about  thirty  feet,  but  missed  her, 
and  she,  turning,  again  went  after  him.  Martin,  from  his 
observatory,  again  called  out  the  news,  and  again,  after 
Jack  had  reached  his  shelter,  the  barking  of  the  dog  drew 
the  bear  off.  Jack  reloaded  again,  fired  again,  and  missed 
again,  and  this  time  the  bear  went  for  him  in  earnest. 

Martin  still  acted  as  a  bureau  of  information,  but  as 
the  bear  was  now  so  close  to  Jack  that  he  had  all  he  could 
do  to  dodge  her  claws,  this  was  hardly  necessary.  This 
time  he  had  kept  his  cartridge  out,  and  he  loaded  as  he 
ran,  and  reaching  a  large  tree  he  swung  himself  around 
it,  and  as  the  bear  passed,  fired  his  last  shot — and  made 
a  clean  miss.  He  was  now  forced  to  continue  his  flight, 
and  as  soon  as  he  was  out  of  sight  Martin  made  for  camp. 


A  Charging  Grizzly  93 

But  Jack  never  got  scratched.  After  the  bear  passed 
the  tree  she  went  back  to  the  creek,  having  now  begun  to 
feel  the  effects  of  the  first  shot,  which,  entering  her  side, 
back  of  the  ribs,  had  ranged  downward  and  passed  out  of 
the  groin  between  the  hind  legs.  That  it  must  have  been 
the  first  shot  that  struck  her  is  proved  by  the  downward 
course  of  the  bullet,  fired  from  the  bank  when  the  bear 
was  in  the  creek. 

This  is  the  only  instance  that  I  have  ever  known  per- 
sonally where  a  grizzly  attacked  a  man  without  provo- 
cation, and  in  this  case  I  lay  it  to  the  dog.  The  bear  was 
an  old  one  with  three  yearling  cubs,  and  the  presence  and 
barking  of  the  dog  were  naturally  offensive  to  her.  And 
as  the  cubs  and  the  dog  were  doubtless  the  reasons  for 
her  unprovoked  attack  upon  the  man,  so  also  the  cubs 
and  the  dog  proved  his  salvation.  For  the  bear  left  him 
again  and  again  and  returned  to  interpose  herself  between 
the  barking  dog  and  her  cubs,  which  had  not  crossed  the 
creek. 

In  this  case,  too,  the  vitality  of  an  old  and  large  grizzly 
proved  to  be  many  times  less  than  that  of  the  deer.  Not 
a  bone  was  touched  by  this  first  bullet,  and  not  another 
ball  hit  her.  Of  this  we  were  sure,  as  when  we  came  to 
skin  her  we  examined  her  very  closely.  Jack  was  fully 
convinced  that  he  had  hit  her  three,  if  not  four,  times; 
and  had  she  not  been  killed,  he  would  have  sworn  that  he 
had  so  hit  her,  and  that,  in  spite  of  her  wounds,  she  had 
made  good  her  escape.  Twice  he  had  fired  at  her  at  a 
point-blank  range  of  thirty  feet,  and  his  last  shot  was 
delivered  when  she  was  but  ten  feet  away.  This  experi- 
ence has,  in  my  mind,  raised  the  question  as  to  how  much 


94  The  Grizzly  Bear 

of  the  lead  a  grizzly  is  commonly  supposed  to  carry  off 
has  ever  really  reached  its  mark. 

I  may  add  that  I  heard,  long  after  this,  that  Nebo 
finally  (by  accident,  I  presume)  came  across  an  old  bear 
blocking  a  trail,  and  absent-mindedly  trying  to  remove 
the  obstruction,  achieved  a  bear-dog's  finish. 


XI 

AT  CLOSE  QUARTERS 

LATE  in  the  fall  of  1891  I  took  Dr.  C.  S.  Penfield  and 
James  H.  Adams  of  Spokane  into  the  Bitter  Root 
region  after  big  game.  I  had  just  returned  from  a  bear 
hunt  in  which  our  party  had  killed  thirteen  grizzlies,  and 
as  neither  of  these  gentlemen  had  at  that  time  killed  a 
bear,  this  made  them  particularly  anxious  to  get  some. 
We  took  my  two  bear-dogs,  the  bull,  and  the  Indian  mon- 
grel with  us,  and  entering  the  mountains  from  the  west, 
we  followed  the  old  Lolo  Trail  that  keeps  to  the  crest  of 
the  main  ridge  from  four  to  five  thousand  feet  above  the 
valleys  on  either  side.  It  was  late  in  the  season,  and,  the 
bear  having  sought  the  lower  altitudes,  we  did  not  find 
any  along  the  trail,  nor,  though  we  camped  beside  it  for 
a  couple  of  days  and  hunted  elk  and  moose,  did  we  have 
any  success.  We  therefore  followed  the  Lolo  for  two 
days  more,  meeting  several  parties  of  Indians  returning, 
heavily  loaded  with  elk  and  bear  meat,  from  their  annual 
hunt,  and  then  we  turned  to  the  right,  descended  some 
five  thousand  feet,  and  camped  on  the  banks  of  the 
middle  fork  of  the  Clearwater  River. 

This  stream  is  about  one  hundred  yards  wide,  is,  at 
this  season,  quite  shallow,  and  like  all  the  streams  in  this 

95 


96  The  Grizzly  Bear 

country,  very  rapid  and  very  cold.  Its  banks  and  bed  are 
lined  with  large  boulders,  and  the  water  makes  a  tremen- 
dous noise  in  running  over  them.  Our  camp  was  on  a 
narrow  strip  of  flat  land  that  paralleled  the  river  for  half 
a  mile,  and  ran  back  two  or  three  hundred  yards  to  the 
foot  of  the  mountain.  Just  above  us  the  Clearwater 
made  a  turn  almost  at  right  angles,  and  in  the  bend,  on  a 
little  patch  of  open  ground,  with  two  large  trees  in  the 
centre,  the  Indians  for  years  had  made  their  camp,  and 
the  place  was  marked  by  piles  of  refuse  and  by  their  racks 
or  scaffolds  for  drying  meat. 

After  unpacking  our  horses,  I  sauntered  up  to  this 
opening  to  see  if  the  Indians  had  left  any  elk  antlers — they 
hardly  ever  carry  them  away — and  the  bulldog  trotted 
after  me.  As  I  emerged  from  the  bush  I  saw,  behind  a 
bunch  of  bushes  and  near  the  drying  racks,  what  at  first 
I  took  to  be  a  black  stump.  Remembering,  however,  that 
I  had  camped  at  this  place  many  times,  and  had  never 
seen  a  stump  there,  I  took  a  closer  look  and  saw  that  it  was 
an  old  bear  gnawing  the  discarded  bones.  The  animal  was 
so  dark  in  color  that  I  supposed  it  was  a  black  bear,  and 
determined  to  tree  it  for  the  doctor  or  Adams  to  shoot.  I 
had  no  weapon  of  any  sort  with  me,  as  I  had  taken  off  my 
belt  in  unpacking  the  horses  and  had  thrown  it,  with  my 
hatchet,  on  the  ground,  and  had  left  my  rifle  standing 
against  a  tree.  I  had,  however,  no  idea  of  killing  the  bear, 
and  even  had  I  had  my  gun,  would  not  have  robbed  the 
others  of  their  opportunity. 

The  bear  was  near  the  two  trees,  and  I  thought  there 
would  be  no  trouble  in  putting  him  up  one  of  them,  so  call- 
ing to  Jim,  the  dog,  to  "sic  'em,"  I  started  toward  him. 


ELK   SUMMIT,    BITTER    ROOT   MOUNTAINS 


At  Close  Quarters  97 

But  the  dog  had  not  yet  seen  the  bear  and,  dog  fashion, 
simply  ran  back  and  forth  looking  for  he  knew  not  what, 
so  that  I  was  soon  within  fifty  feet  of  the  bear  and,  not  car- 
ing to  quite  jump  on  him,  I  gave  a  yell;  whereupon  he 
stood  up  to  see  what  had  broken  loose,  and  Jim  got  sight 
of  him  and  made  for  his  hind  legs. 

I  now  began  calling  at  the  top  of  my  voice  for  the  doc- 
tor and  Adams,  while  the  bear  moved  off  toward  the  trees. 
But  as  he  had  to  pay  attention  to  the  assaults  of  the  dog, 
he  could  not  run  very  fast,  and  I  easily  kept  up  with  the 
procession,  yelling  the  while  for  re-enforcements.  But  the 
bear  did  not  seem  to  have  the  least  intention  of  climbing. 
He  stopped  under  one  of  the  trees  and  made  a  few  passes 
at  the  dog  (I,  meanwhile,  getting  in  a  few  more  yells),  and 
then  he  moved  on  toward  the  river,  the  bank  of  which  was 
some  thirty  feet  above  the  water,  and  while  not  straight 
down,  was  so  steep  that  it  was  quite  difficult  to  negotiate 
either  way. 

We  came  out  about  two  hundred  yards  above  the  bend 
and  just  where,  along  the  bottom  of  the  bank,  there  grew 
a  few  old  cottonwood  trees.  Here  Jim  grabbed  the  bear 
from  behind,  and  the  latter,  in  turning  to  strike  him,  lost 
his  footing,  and  bear  and  dog  both  disappeared  down  the 
bank.  I  ran  to  the  edge  and  seeing  them  bring  up  against  the 
old  cottonwoods,  thought  the  bear,  who  must  by  now  have 
had  enough  of  fighting,  would  surely  climb.  But  instead  he 
plunged  into  the  river,  and  as  soon  as  he  got  to  where  the 
water  was  deep,  turned  and  faced  the  dog.  This,  as  the 
bear  seemed  to  know,  put  Jim,  who  had  to  swim,  at  a  dis- 
advantage. But  the  current  was  swift,  and  swept  them 
both  down-stream  to  where,  at  the  head  of  a  riffle,  sev- 


g8  The  Grizzly  Bear 

eral  large  boulders  stood  out  of  the  water.  Jim  crawled 
out  on  one  of  these  and  the  bear  sat  down  just  above  it, 
and  every  time  the  bear  started  to  move  Jim  made  a  rush 
for  the  edge  of  rock  and  the  bear  turned  back. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  there  was  some  heavy 
timber,  and  I  thought  that  if  the  bear  got  into  this  he 
would  surely  tree.  So  I  determined  to  drive  him  across, 
as,  once  in  a  tree,  I  could  watch  him  until  the  men  at 
camp  hunted  me  up.  I  figured  that  if  I  did  not  return 
before  night  they  would  start  a  search,  and  if  my  voice  did 
not  give  out,  they  would  soon  find  me. 

In  fording  a  swift  stream  where  there  is  danger  of  being 
swept  off  one's  feet,  a  stout  pole,  used  as  a  brace  down- 
stream, will  often  make  easy  a  passage  that  would  be  im- 
possible without  such  aid;  and  I  now,  therefore,  looked 
about  for  a  pole,  and  finding  one,  started  to  drive  the  bear 
across  the  river.  When  he  saw  me  coming  he  started  for 
the  other  shore,  and  Jim,  leaving  his  boulder,  followed 
close  behind  him.  My  own  crossing  was  a  more  difficult 
matter.  The  water  was  swift,  the  boulders  were  slippery 
as  glass,  and  it  was  all  that  I  could  do  to  make  headway. 
By  the  time  I  got  across,  the  bear  and  the  dog  had  both 
disappeared  in  the  brush,  but  an  occasional  bawl  told  me 
that  Jim  was  still  on  the  job;  and  hearing  a  bark  behind 
me,  and  seeing  old  Pete,  the  mongrel,  just  entering  the 
water,  I  felt  sure  the  hunters  were  coming  and  started  con- 
tentedly ahead. 

I  soon  came  up  with  Jim  and  the  bear,  and  whenever  I 
saw  an  opportunity  to  do  so  without  getting  cuffed,  brought 
my  pole  down  on  Bruin's  back.  The  brush,  however,  was 
so  thick  that  it  was  hard  to  do  the  bear  any  harm,  or  indeed 


At  Close  Quarters  99 

to  produce  any  effect  beyond  a  snort  and  a  more  than  usu- 
ally vicious  stroke  at  the  dog;  and  my  pole  soon  became  so 
shortened  by  constant  breaking  that  only  a  small  club 
remained. 

We  now  came  to  a  little  stream  that  drained  a  spring 
fifty  yards  back  from  the  river.  Across  it  there  was  a  fallen 
tree  about  eighteen  inches  thick,  and  across  this  tree,  and 
parallel  with  the  creek  bank,  another  tree  had  fallen,  form- 
ing a  sort  of  pen  ten  or  twelve  feet  square.  Pete  now  came 
up,  the  bear  and  the  dog  stumbled  against  these  logs  and 
fell  into  the  pen,  and  as  they  tumbled  over  I  happened  to 
notice  the  bear's  paw,  and  for  the  first  time,  and  to  my 
utter  astonishment,  realized  that  it  was  a  grizzly,  instead 
of  a  black  bear  we  were  trying  to  tree. 

I  now  saw  that  I  was  probably  in  a  scrape  if  those 
hunters  did  not  show  up,  and  I  tried  to  yell  louder  than 
ever,  but  I  had  done  so  much  of  that  already  that  my  voice 
was  nearly  gone.  However,  I  stood  outside  the  log  pen  and 
did  the  best  I  could,  and  now  and  then,  when  I  thought  the 
bear  was  not  looking,  I  whacked  him  over  the  head  with 
my  club,  but  of  course  did  him  no  harm.  Jim,  the  bull- 
dog, was  on  the  side  next  the  creek,  while  Pete,  the  mon- 
grel, was  over  next  to  the  log.  When  the  bear  came  Pete's 
way  he  slid  under  the  tree  out  of  reach.  Jim,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  not  so  lucky,  as  he  had  to  jump  the  two-foot 
bank,  and  I  cannot  to  this  day  see  why  the  grizzly  did  not 
kill  him. 

I  saw  that  if  I  had  a  good  two-handed,  heavy  club  that 
would  not  break  I  could  likely  smash  the  bear's  head,  and 
regretted  taking  off  my  belt,  on  which  a  small  hatchet  was 
slung.  I  never  carried  a  hunting  knife,  but  did  all  my 


ioo  The  Grizzly  Bear 

skinning  with  a  pocket  knife  containing  one  three-inch 
blade  and  one  smaller  one,  and  as  this  was  the  only  re- 
source at  hand  I  got  it  out.  I  was  looking  around  for  the 
sort  of  club  I  needed  when  I  heard  a  snort,  and  looking 
back  saw  that  the  bear  had  decided  to  turn  his  attention 
to  me.  I  sprang  back,  caught  my  foot  in  a  root,  and  fell 
flat  on  my  back  in  the  creek,  with  my  head  about  a  foot 
lower  than  my  heels.  "Now,"  thought  I,  "you  are  in  for 
a  good  chewing,"  and  being  unable  to  take  any  other  pre- 
caution, I  grasped  a  bush  in  my  left  hand,  got  a  good  grip 
on  the  knife,  and  determined  to  run  it  into  the  bear's  belly 
and  open  him  up.  But  when  the  bear  got  his  front  paws 
over  the  log,  with  his  nose  just  at  my  feet,  both  dogs 
grabbed  him  by  the  flanks,  and  bear  and  dogs  were  all 
tumbled  back  into  the  pen. 

As  they  fell  I  made  a  thrust  and  drove  the  knife  in  be- 
hind the  bear's  right  foreleg,  and  the  blade  slipped  in  so 
easily  that  it  gave  me  an  idea.  I  got  up  and,  placing  one 
knee  against  the  log  and  the  other  foot  against  the  root 
that  had  tripped  me,  I  waited  my  chance  and  made  an- 
other thrust.  Had  I  had  a  long-bladed  hunting  knife  the 
fight  would  have  ended  then  and  there,  but  the  knife  was 
short  and  the  bear  fat.  So  that  the  stab  was  only  an  in- 
cident. 

Up  to  this  time  I  had,  in  a  desultory  sort  of  way,  kept 
on  yelling;  the  bear,  when  he  got  an  unusually  hard  nip, 
had  given  an  occasional  bawl;  and  now  one  dog  and  now 
the  other  had  given  a  yelp  when  he  feared  the  bear  was 
about  to  get  him.  But  now  these  sounds  were  hushed. 
Each  of  us  had  his  work  cut  out  and  we  got  right  down  to 
business.  I  kept  my  place  by  the  log,  and  when  the  bear 


At  Close  Quarters  101 

turned  to  attack  Jim,  it  was  my  turn  to  stab.  When  the 
bear  went  for  Pete  I  let  him  most  severely  alone,  but  this 
was  Jim's  opportunity  and  he  never  missed  it.  After  the 
bear  had  been  stuck  by  the  knife  a  number  of  times  he 
became  foxy.  He  would  feint  for  Jim,  and  as  I  started  to 
make  my  thrust,  would  turn  like  lightning  and  make  a 
pass  at  me.  Several  times  he  came  so  near  me  that  I  thought 
I  could  hear  the  swish  of  his  nails,  and  I  was  soon  compelled 
to  be  more  cautious  and  to  wait  until  Jim  became  actually 
entangled  with  the  brute,  when  Pete  and  I  would  join  forces 
and  make  the  most  of  our  opportunity,  till  we  drew  the 
fight  back  to  our  quarter. 

Jim  was  now  becoming  winded;  he  could  no  longer 
retreat  as  quickly  as  at  first,  and  I  myself  was  beginning  to 
miss  the  breath  I  had  spent  in  yelling.  Pete  was  the  only 
one  of  the  attacking  force  that  was  in  first-class  shape, 
while  the  bear  seemed  to  have  more  wind  than  he  knew 
what  to  do  with.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was  not 
long  before  he  made  a  pass  at  me  and  caught  me  through 
the  ball  of  the  hand.  The  wound  was  rather  a  nasty  one 
and  the  blow  knocked  the  knife  from  my  grasp;  but  after 
striking  a  bush  it  dropped  near  by,  so  that  I  was  able  to 
recover  it  without  losing  my  next  turn,  and  we  continued 
the  fight.  Little  by  little  the  bear  himself  weakened.  At 
first  this  was  only  noticeable  in  that  it  required  more  bit- 
ing and  punching  than  formerly  to  make  him  turn  from  one 
to  the  other.  Then  bloody  froth  began  flying  from  his 
mouth.  But  he  held  on  so  amazingly  that  I  about  lost 
hope  of  killing  him  and  saving  the  dogs.  Still  I,  had  got 
them  into  the  scrape,  I  knew  that  they  would  fight  to  the 
death,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  to  stay  with  them. 


102  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Finally  I  saw  a  change  come  over  the  bear — the  change 
that  marks  the  transition  from  doggedness  to  desperation 
— and  I  knew  that  it  would  likely  go  hard  with  the  next  one 
he  grasped.  This  proved  to  be  Jim,  and  wrapping  his 
forelegs  round  him  the  bear  dropped  on  his  side  and  be- 
gan trying  to  rip  the  dog  up  with  his  hind  claws.  Pete 
dove  to  the  attack  from  under  his  log,  but  the  bear  paid 
scant  attention,  and,  hearing  Jim's  smothered  cries,  and 
the  bear  lying  with  his  head  and  back  toward  me,  I  grasped 
the  knife  handle  by  the  extreme  end,  laid  my  left  hand  on 
the  bear's  head,  and  in  a  last,  desperate  effort  to  reach  a 
vital  spot,  drove  blade  and  haft  both  into  the  bear's  side. 
Then  I  leaped  away,  and  I  was  not  a  second  too  soon.  The 
stroke — as  though  it  had  released  a  spring — brought  the 
bear  convulsively  to  his  feet,  and  I  barely  missed  the  mighty 
stroke  he  aimed  at  me.  But  this  time  my  thrust  had 
gone  home,  and,  the  force  of  his  own  blow  carrying  him 
off  his  feet,  the  grizzly  fell  prone  across  the  logs  and  the 
fight  was  over. 

I  had  received  no  hurts  other  than  the  one  in  the  hand; 
and  although  I  was  covered  with  blood,  little  of  it  was  my 
own.  Pete  escaped  without  a  scratch,  but  Jim,  as  far  as 
appearances  went,  was  worse  off  than  the  bear.  One  of  his 
legs  was  so  chewed  up  that  he  could  not  use  it;  his  neck 
was  lacerated  until  it  seemed  as  if  his  head  was  cut  half 
off,  and  there  were  several  other  severe  cuts  about  his 
body;  but  he  was  not  subdued  by  a  good  deal. 

For  a  few  moments,  bloody  and  panting,  I  sat  on  the 
fallen  tree  and  watched  the  dogs  worry  the  dead  bear. 
Then  I  rolled  the  carcass  over  and  out  of  the  arena  and, 
the  way  being  a  little  downhill,  and  finding  that  by  reach- 


At  Close  Quarters  103 

ing  back  and  grasping  a  side  of  the  head  with  each  hand 
I  could  just  drag  the  body  along,  I  started  with  it  for  the 
river.  Several  times  in  the  short  distance  I  was  brought  to 
a  sudden  stop,  and  on  looking  around  found  Jim,  the 
bear's  hind  paw  in  his  mouth  and  his  own  three  legs  braced, 
pulling  back  for  all  he  was  worth.  Arrived  at  the  bank,  I 
rolled  the  body  in  and  succeeded  in  towing  it  across,  but 
being  unable  to  lift  it  out  of  the  water,  I  drew  it  in  behind 
a  ledge  of  rock,  left  it  there,  and  went  on  to  camp. 

There,  very  much  at  their  ease,  sat  the  two  hunters 
who  were  so  anxious  to  kill  a  bear.  When  they  saw  me, 
wet  and  covered  with  blood,  they  became  excusably  excited 
and  wanted  to  know  what  was  the  matter.  I  told  them 
that  I  had  been  killing  a  grizzly.  "  But  what  did  you  kill 
him  with?"  they  said.  "Your  gun  is  here  in  camp." 
"Well,"  I  answered,  "as  you  fellows  did  not  come  when 
I  yelled  for  help,  I  had  to  kill  him  with  my  pocket  knife." 
But  it  took  the  body  of  the  bear  and  a  post-mortem  to  boot 
to  satisfy  their  doubts. 

It  seemed  that,  as  soon  as  I  had  left  camp,  they  had 
gone  down  to  the  river  to  get  a  drink,  and  the  noise  made 
by  the  stream  prevented  them  from  hearing  me.  Once, 
they  said,  they  thought  they  heard  a  dog  barking,  but  as 
the  sound  was  not  repeated,  they  thought  no  more  about 
it.  When  we  came  to  skin  the  bear — he  was  a  handsome 
animal,  his  pelage  a  deep  black,  scantily  touched  with 
white — we  found  seventeen  knife  wounds  back  of  the  right 
shoulder.  Three  of  his  ribs  were  completely  severed  and 
the  last  stab  had  pierced  his  heart.  Jim  and  myself  were 
considerably  knocked  up.  The  doctor  sewed  up  our 
wounds.  Jim  had  to  make  the  rest  of  the  trip  on  three 


104  The  Grizzly  Bear 

legs,  while  my  right  hand  was  out  of  commission  for  a 
while  and  I  had  to  talk  in  whispers.  And  as  it  turned  out, 
this  was  the  only  bear  we  saw. 

The  next  day  it  began  to  snow  and  rain,  and  kept  it  up 
for  a  week,  and  when  we  climbed  the  five  thousand  feet 
back  to  the  trail,  we  found  the  snow  so  deep  that  we  came 
near  having  to  abandon  the  horses,  and  of  the  six  we  had 
with  us  got  only  three  home. 


XII 
MY  FIRST  TRIP  TO  THE  SELKIRKS 

FOR  years  before  I  visited  the  district  I  had  heard 
wonderful  stones  of  the  grizzlies  of  the  Selkirks.  I 
had  heard  how  plentiful  they  were,  and  how  ferocious  they 
were,  and  how  many  miners  were  killed  by  them  every  year. 
I  had  met  old  prospectors  and  trappers  who  insisted  that 
several  species  were  found  among  them — the  Roach  Back, 
the  Silver  Tip,  the  Bald  Face,  and  now  and  again  a 
Range  bear.  Of  these  they  agreed  that  the  Bald  Face 
was  the  most  dangerous  and  the  most  aggressive,  and 
declared  that  he  would  turn  from  the  trail  for  neither  man 
nor  beast,  but,  with  a  chip  on  his  large  shoulder,  was  al- 
ways on  the  lookout  for  some  prospector  whom  he  might 
mangle  for  the  fun  of  it. 

I  confess  that  these  reports  attracted  me.  I  thought 
that  the  chance  to  hunt  bears  where  the  sport  did  not  re- 
quire so  much  sneaking  and  crawling  as  I  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  would  be  much  to  my  liking;  and  I  determined 
to  take  the  first  opportunity  to  visit  a  region  where  the  bears 
really  themselves  went  hunting  for  the  hunter.  Accord- 
ingly one  spring,  in  company  with  Mr.  T.  C.  Coleman  of 
West  Virginia,  and  Dr.  C.  S.  Penfield  of  Spokane,  both 
old  hunting  companions,  I  made  a  trip  to  the  Wilson's 

105 


io6  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Creek  country,  a  part  of  the  Selkirk  range  in  British  Col- 
umbia. 

We  left  Spokane  about  the  middle  of  April,  but  upon 
reaching  the  hunting  grounds  found  that  we  were  about 
three  weeks  ahead  of  time,  since  in  these  northern  hills 
the  bears  do  not  come  out  of  winter  quarters  so  early,  by 
nearly  a  month,  as  in  the  more  southern  ranges  where  we 
had  hunted  them  for  many  years.  Indeed,  we  found  that 
conditions  in  the  Selkirks  differed  altogether  from  those  of 
the  country  in  the  south.  The  lay  of  the  land  was  different. 
The  food  of  the  bears  was  different.  And  the  methods  of 
hunting,  which  depend  largely  upon  these  two  features, 
were  necessarily  different  in  proportion.  The  only  factor 
that  remained  comparatively  constant  was  the  nature  of 
"  Old  Ephraim"  himself. 

In  the  Selkirks  the  mountains  are  very  steep,  and 
their  sides  come  down  in  the  form  of  a  sharp  V  to  the  bot- 
toms of  the  canons  that  do  duty  for  valleys  between  them. 
In  these  rocky  gorges  run  very  rapid  streams;  and  down 
their  steeply  sloping  sides  in  the  spring,  the  snows  rush  in 
great  avalanches.  These  move  with  terrific  force,  sweep- 
ing before  them  anything  that  offers  resistance,  and  are  apt 
to  follow  the  same  tracks,  year  after  year.  And  it  is  in 
these  tracks,  locally  known  as  "slides,"  that,  from  neces- 
sity, if  not  from  choice,  one  hunts  for  bear. 

The  grizzlies  in  this  region  very  seldom  get  any  animal 
food,  but  live  almost  entirely  on  roots,  bulbs,  grass,  and  the 
buds  of  the  small  maple  bushes.  In  the  early  spring,  when 
the  grizzlies  first  come  out,  the  snow  is  piled  up  in  aston- 
ishing fashion  at  the  bottom  of  these  slides,  and  below,  and 
on  either  side  of  them,  covers  the  country  to  a  depth  of 


NEAR   THE    HEAD-WATERS    OF    WILSON'S   CREEK 


My  First  Trip  to  the  Selkirks  107 

from  six  to  ten  feet;  but  the  slides  themselves  are  nearly 
free  from  snow,  and  here  the  bears  are  forced  to  come  to 
look  for  food. 

The  slides  are  thickly  grown  with  many  kinds  of  brush, 
and  here  and  there  show  little  parks  where,  on  the  south- 
ern slopes,  the  grass  sprouts  early.  Here,  too,  grow  two 
plants,  the  dog-tooth  violet  and  the  spring  beauty,  each 
springing  from  a  little  bulb  like  a  small  onion,  and  the 
ground  is  sometimes  so  dug  over  and  torn  upj  by  bears 
searching  for  these  bulbs,  that  it  looks  as  though  a  band 
of  prospectors  had  been  at  work. 

Strangely  enough,  though  both  of  these  plants  grow  in 
the  Bitter  Root  Mountains,  I  have  never  seen  signs  of  a 
grizzly's  having  dug  for  them  there.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
plant  called  the  shooting  star,  with  a  leaf  like  a  small 
horseradish  leaf,  which  also  grows  plentifully  in  both 
places,  is  greedily  eaten  by  the  Idaho  grizzlies,  and  wholly 
ignored  by  those  of  the  Selkirks. 

The  usual  way  of  hunting  in  these  Selkirk  valleys  is  to 
make  one's  way  along  one  side  of  the  streams  and  scan 
the  slides  across  the  gorge.  The  hills  are  so  steep  and  the 
brush  so  thick  that  it  is  impossible  to  see  anything  on  one's 
own  side  of  the  creek,  and  indeed  it  is  hard  enough  when 
one  does  see  anything,  to  make  one's  way  to  within  range. 
For  the  brush,  what  with  the  weight  of  constant  snows,  and 
repeated  bendings  of  the  head  to  passing  avalanches,  all 
grows  downhill,  and  it  is  all  but  impossible  to  worm  one's 
way  up  against  it.  We  cut  many  a  mile  of  trail  and  felled 
many  a  foot  log  across  the  streams,  before  we  got  through 
with  Wilson's  Creek. 

However,  when  we  first  reached  this  forbidding  and 


io8  The  Grizzly  Bear 

inhospitable  region,  not  only  had  the  grizzlies  not  yet  put 
in  an  appearance,  but  we  ourselves  were  stalled  ten  miles 
below  our  intended  destination.  We  had  already  travelled 
some  miles  through  snow  from  two  to  four  feet  deep,  and 
now,  being  unable  to  make  further  headway,  we  cut  down 
enough  timber  to  open  a  clearing  for  our  tent,  unpacked 
the  horses,  and  sent  them,  with  the  man  who  drove  them, 
back  to  the  settlements  where  we  had  hired  them. 

And  now  the  weather,  which  had  been  warm  and  pleas- 
ant, turned  suddenly  bitter,  and  for  two  weeks  we  three 
held  our  little  camp  against  a  wintry  siege,  and  when  this 
finally  was  raised  and  pleasant  days  were  promised,  the 
doctor's  leave  of  absence  had  expired.  He  therefore 
walked  out  to  the  settlements,  ordered  our  horses  sent  back 
to  us,  and  left  for  home,  and  the  next  morning,  our  pack 
animals  having  arrived,  we  moved  on  up-stream  and  made 
our  intended  camp. 

On  our  way  up  we  saw  our  first  bear  track  of  the  season, 
the  animal  having  evidently  passed  only  the  evening  before, 
and  worked  along  the  edge  of  a  large  slide,  where  here  and 
there  there  was  a  patch  of  bare  ground.  The  next  morn- 
ing, when  the  packer  had  taken  the  back  trail  for  home 
with  his  horses,  Coleman  and  myself  took  up  the  old 
bear's  trail  and  tried  to  follow  it.  After  crossing  the  slide, 
the  bear  had  stopped  several  times  to  dig  up  small  roots 
and  bulbs,  but  as  there  was  little  vegetation  to  speak  of, 
he  had  worked  around  toward  the  south  side  of  the  moun- 
tain, where  there  were  several  other  slides.  It  was  very 
difficult  to  trail  him  where  there  was  no  snow,  and  we  soon 
decided  to  drop  the  trail  and  strike  straight  for  the  south- 
ern slides,  thinking  to  find  him  on  one  or  the  other  of  them. 


My  First  Trip  to  the  Selkirks  109 

After  several  hours'  slipping  and  struggling,  and  re- 
peated disappointments  at  several  likely  looking  slides,  I 
crept  across  a  welcome  bed  of  soft  pine  needles  to  the 
edge  of  a  big  opening,  and  craning  my  head  carefully  for- 
ward, looked  about  me.  Now,  it  is  one  thing  to  creep  for- 
ward yourself  to  get  a  shot  at  a  bear,  and  quite  a  different 
one  to  take  another  man  to  where  he  can  obtain  the  shot. 
Coleman  always  kept  in  the  rear,  because,  he  said,  he  was 
not  quick  enough  at  sighting  game;  so,  when  we  started 
out,  it  had  been  understood  that  he  was  to  keep  close  to 
me,  and  in  case  there  was  any  chance  of  a  shot,  I  would 
reach  back,  seize  him,  and  place  him  in  front. 

When  I  poked  my  head  through  the  brush  on  the  edge 
of  this  slide,  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  our  old  grizzly  only 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  away.  I  therefore  reached  silently  back 
for  Coleman  and,  not  touching  him,  turned  to  see  what  had 
become  of  him,  and  there  he  was  some  forty  yards  in  the 
rear.  I  made  frantic  motions  for  him  to  come  on,  and 
seeing  from  my  actions  that  something  was  in  sight,  he 
hastened  up  as  rapidly  as  possible.  As  soon  as  he  reached 
me  and  had  regained  his  wind  we  looked  out  over  the 
slide,  and  were  dumfounded  to  see  it  tenantless;  the  bear 
had  gone.  We  went  out  and  found  the  trail,  followed  it 
into  some  cedars  fifty  yards  above  us,  and  found  that  it 
then  made  up-stream  the  way  we  had  come,  and  that,  had 
we  remained  at  a  little  creek  where  we  had  rested  on 
our  way  down,  we  would  have  got  a  shot,  as  the  bear 
had  passed  close  to  where  we  had  been  sitting.  We 
trailed  him  for  about  a  half  mile,  and  finding  that  he 
was  taking  advantage  of  all  the  thickets  he  could  find, 
and  that  he  was  evidently  on  the  jump,  we  decided 


no  The  Grizzly  Bear 

that  it  was  more  than  useless  to  follow.  So  we  returned 
to  camp. 

The  next  morning  we  started  up-stream  on  snow-shoes. 
When  we  had  gone  about  five  hundred  yards  I  looked  up 
at  a  slide  on  our  left,  and  there  was  a  huge  grizzly  walking 
over  a  mass  of  snow  that  had  slid  down  about  a  week  be- 
fore. We  watched  him,  and  as  he  soon  began  feeding  on 
the  grass  that  had  started  to  come  up  along  the  edge  of  the 
snow  we  determined  to  make  a  try  for  him.  We  found  a 
fallen  tree  across  the  stream  and,  clambering  over,  shinned 
up  the  steep  bank  and  then  crawled  through  the  bushes  and 
came  out  at  the  spot  where  we  had  seen  him  feeding.  But 
no  bear  awaited  us.  He  had  evidently  got  wind  of  us  in 
some  way  and  moved  quietly  away. 

Since  now  the  snow  was  too  deep  and  soft  for  us  to  get 
through  the  brush  without  snow-shoes,  and  as  the  brush 
was  so  dense  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  through  with 
them,  we  could  do  little  for  nearly  two  weeks,  but  watch 
the  two  slides  where  we  had  seen  these  two  bears,  and  two 
others  that  we  could  overlook  with  our  field-glasses. 

About  a  half  mile  up  the  mountain,  a  little  below  camp, 
there  was  a  large  slide  where  the  snow,  starting  from  an 
altitude  much  greater  than  usual,  had  dashed  over  the 
edge  of  a  cliff  some  five  hundred  feet  high,  to  lie  piled  up  a 
hundred  feet  or  more  against  its  base.  One  morning  while 
looking  over  the  slides,  we  happened  to  glance  at  the  top  of 
this  clifF  and,  on  a  little  green  patch  of  grass  underneath 
some  bushes,  saw  an  old  grizzly  as  white  as  a  goat.  For 
a  long  time  we  watched  him  through  the  glasses,  and  that 
evening  he  again  appeared,  and  we  watched  him  until  dark. 
He  was  a  fine  specimen  and  looked  as  though  he  might  be 


My  First  Trip  to  the  Selkirks  in 

one  of  those  bald-faced  fighters  that  we  had  come  to  find, 
so  we  determined  that  if  he  was  there  in  the  morning  we 
would  make  an  effort  to  get  him. 

In  the  morning,  sure  enough,  the  bear  was  there,  so  we 
took  our  guns  and  started  for  the  cliff.  It  was  a  terrific 
climb.  The  hill  was  so  steep  that  in  many  places  we  could 
only  proceed  by  literally  pulling  ourselves  up  hand  over 
hand  by  the  bushes.  However,  after  three  hours  of  heart- 
breaking work,  we  gained  the  slide,  but  only  to  find  our 
patch  of  grass  unreachable.  In  fact,  the  bushes  were  so 
high  and  thick  that  we  could  not  even  see  it;  nor,  guarded 
as  it  was  by  declivities  and  obstructions,  could  we  be  cer- 
tain where  it  lay.  Fagged  and  footsore  we  climbed  back 
to  camp.  And  there,  high  above  us,  and  serenely  beckon- 
ing in  the  sunlight,Fhung  our  elusive  clearing,  and  that  even- 
ing the  big  white  grizzly  again  came  out  to  mock  us.  We 
named  him  "White  Jim,"  and  morning  and  evening,  for 
nearly  three  weeks,  we  saw  that  bear  on  this  same  patch  of 
ground.  He  had  a  way  of  sitting  on  his  haunches  near  the 
edge  and  swinging  his  head  from  side  to  side  as  though 
enjoying  the  view.  At  last,  as  day  by  day  the  memory  of 
our  difficulty  grew  fainter  and  the  lure  of  that  great  white 
skin  grew  greater,  we  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and  de- 
cided to  make  another  try,  and  this  time  to  go  prepared  to 
stay  all  night.  So,  for  the  second  time,  we  scaled  the  all 
but  unscalable  mountain,  but  not  a  place  that  was  level 
enough  to  lie  on  could  we  find,  and  worse  yet,  just  as  we  got 
there,  a  sudden  and  heavy  wind  set  in.  It  snowed  on  the 
hills  and  rained  down  in  the  bottoms,  and,  soaked  and  slip- 
ping, we  were  glad  enough  to  get  back  to  camp  with  whole 
bones,  and  never  again  tried  to  steal  the  pelt  of  White  Jim. 


H2  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Every  day  during  this  time  we  had  seen  one  or  more 
bear,  and  had  tried  all  kinds  of  dodges  to  get  a  shot.  We 
cut  trails  from  two  directions  through  the  brush  to  each 
slide,  so  that  whichever  way  the  wind  blew  we  could  creep 
up  against  it.  We  felled  foot  logs  across  the  streams,  and 
as  the  high  water  took  them  out,  we  felled  more.  We  ex- 
hausted our  strength  and  our  ingenuity  in  ceaseless  stalking 
and  planning,  and  our  knowledge  of  the  English  language 
in  expressing  our  opinion  of  the  country  and  the  bears; 
but  the  bears  were  shrewd,  and  not  a  bald  face  among  them 
offered  to  give  us  a  scrap.  And  so  five  weeks  after  our 
arrival,  satisfied  that  whatever  might  be  said  of  their  cour- 
age, the  Selkirk  bears  were  our  superiors  in  cunning,  we 
tied  up  our  tent  door  and  walked  twenty-two  miles  to  the 
settlements,  intending  to  get  horses  and  pack  out  our  be- 
longings. Arrived  at  the  town,  we  called  on  an  old  pros- 
pector who  was  said  to  have  been  up  this  stream,  and  who 
had,  if  rumor  spoke  true,  killed  quite  a  number  of  griz- 
zlies. Up  to  this  time  I  had  prided  myself  on  being  a 
hunter,  and  was  not  a  little  crestfallen  to  think  that  we 
had  been  unable  to  get  so  much  as  a  shot  at  a  bear.  If,  I 
said  to  myself,  this  prospector  had  been  able  to  get  so 
many,  I  should  at  least  have  been  able  to  get  one  small  one. 
We  asked  him  if  he  had,  by  clean  hunting,  ever  killed  a 
bear  up  that  creek.  He  said  no,  that  he  had  not;  he  had 
always  baited  them  and  then  watched  the  bait. 

We  therefore  decided  to  go  back  and  try  the  bait 
scheme.  We.  had  thought  of  this  before,  but  it  seemed  so 
like  taking  unfair  advantage  of  the  animal  that  we  had  put 
the  thought  aside.  But  now  our  sensibilities  were  some- 
what blunted.  We  were  bent  on  bear  at  any  price,  and  we 


My  First  Trip  to  the  Selkirks  113 

looked  around  and  found  a  fellow  who  had  an  old  wind- 
broken  horse  which  we  bought  for  twenty  dollars,  and 
started  back  for  the  bear  country.  It  took  us  two  days  to 
get  that  old  horse  to  the  point  we  wanted  it,  for  every  two 
or  three  hundred  yards  we  would  have  to  stop  and  wait 
until  he  got  his  wind;  but  at  last  we  got  him  to  a  spot  about 
three  miles  above  camp,  led  him  across  the  creek,  and 
killed  him  at  the  edge  of  a  slide  fifty  yards  from  the  creek 
and  fifty  feet  from  a  cedar  thicket.  This,  we  had  found, 
was  a  sort  of  a  general  converging  point  for  the  bear,  and 
we  had  counted  the  tracks  of  twelve  that  had  passed  it  in 
a  single  night.  About  a  hundred  yards  away  we  built  a 
blind,  so  arranged  that  we  could  climb  up  and  enter  it  with- 
out going  near  the  bait. 

We  had  already,  some  distance  up  the  creek  beyond 
the  blind,  found  an  old  deadfall  that  some  prospector  had 
set  up  a  few  years  before.  Indeed,  we  afterward  learned 
that  the  man  who  said  that  he  had  shot  the  bear  had 
caught  them  in  it.  Coleman,  who  was  determined  to  have 
one  of  those  bears,  whether  or  no,  now  proposed  that  we 
fix  up  and  set  this  old  trap.  We  therefore  dragged  the 
head  and  neck  of  the  horse  up  there,  rebuilt  the  trap,  set 
it,  and  piled  upon  the  top  of  it  the  largest  and 'heaviest  log 
we  could  roll  up.  The  trap  was  built  between  two  large 
cedar  trees,  so  as  to  compel  the  bear  to  enter  by  the  front 
door,  and  Coleman  rubbed  blood  over  the  lintel  at  the 
entrance.  We  also  cut  off  one  of  the  front  legs  of  the  horse 
and  dragged  it  back  to  camp  and  placed  it  on  the  slide 
where  we  had  seen  the  second  bear.  This  slide  was  about 
four  hundred  yards  above  the  creek  and  we  had  just  got 
back  to  camp  after  placing  this  last  bait,  and  I  was  doing 


H4  The  Grizzly  Bear 

some  cooking,  when  Coleman  rushed  in  and  said  that 
White  Jim  from  the  high  cliff  was  after  the  bait  that  we 
had  just  placed.  We  had  been  careful  to  place  it  so  that 
it  could  be  seen  from  camp,  and  when  I  hurried  out,  there, 
sure  enough,  was  our  old  white  bear,  who  had  evidently 
concluded  to  try  another  slide  for  a  change,  eating  grass, 
digging  roots,  and  nipping  off  buds,  not  over  fifty  yards 
from  the  bait.  He  worked  up  almost  to  the  bait,  but  never 
so  much  as  sniffed  at  it,  and  soon  most  provokingly  turned 
into  the  brush  and  disappeared.  Later  the  bears  actually 
fed  all  around  this  bait,  but  not  one  ever  touched  it. 

We  kept  a  sharp  lookout  on  the  old  deadfall  and  on 
the  horse,  but  for  four  days  nothing  touched  either  bait, 
although  we  saw  several  bears  on  the  slide  and  their  tracks 
indicated  that  they  had  passed  close  by  it.  One  morning 
I  went  up  to  the  old  horse's  carcass  and  saw  that  a  bear  had 
made  his  breakfast  from  a  portion  of  the  shoulder,  and  so 
we  arranged  to  keep  watch  that  evening.  We  did  not  ex- 
pect that  the  bear  would  return  that  soon,  but  we  were 
taking  no  chances. 

During  the  entire  time  we  had  been  at  this  camp  we 
had  never  seen  a  bear  out  later  than  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  none  had  ever  come  out  before  two  in  the  after- 
noon, so  we  figured  that  it  would  be  useless  to  watch 
between  those  hours.  That  evening  we  watched  until 
dark,  but  no  bears  came.  The  following  morning  we 
reached  our  blind  a  little  after  daylight,  and  finding  that 
nothing  had  been  disturbed,  we  waited  there  until  ten 
o'clock  and  then  went  to  camp.  We  did  some  cooking,  cut 
some  wood,  and  returning  to  the  blind  at  two  o'clock  found 
to  our  amazement  and  chagrin  that  the  horse  had  vanished 


My  First  Trip  to  the  Selkirks  115 

— lock,  stock,  and  barrel.  An  old  grizzly  had  come  during 
our  absence  and  had  dragged  the  carcass  into  the  cedars. 

As  it  was  quite  beyond  our  combined  strength  to  drag 
it  back,  we  went  to  camp,  got  a  rope,  and  fastening  this  to 
the  feet  of  the  horse,  turned  the  body  over.  We  then  swung 
the  carcass  around  and,  with  the  rope,  once  more  turned  it 
over.  And  by  repeating  this  operation  we  finally  got  it 
back  to  its  original  position.  We  now  determined  to  keep 
an  unbroken  watch  as  long  as  there  was  light  enough  to 
see  by,  and  as  it  was  near  the  first  of  June,  and  there  were 
only  about  four  hours  of  real  darkness,  we  had  to  leave  our 
beds  soon  after  midnight,  get  our  breakfast,  and  climb  the 
three  miles  of  trail  by  lantern  light,  in  order  to  reach  the 
blind  by  the  time  it  was  light  enough  to  see  our  bait  with 
field-glasses.  We  would  then  watch  until  about  nine 
b'clock  in  the  morning,  when  one  of  us  would  go  to  camp, 
do  the  cooking,  get  a  lunch,  and  return  about  noon.  Then 
the  other  would  go  away  and  return  about  three  o'clock, 
when  both  would  watch  until  it  became  so  dark  that  we 
could  not  see  the  bait. 

For  seven  days  we  kept  this  up,  and  a  good  part  of  the 
time  it  rained  and  was  very  cold,  so  that  we  had  to  carry  up 
blankets  and  rubber  ponchos  to  wrap  about  us.  When 
tnbrbughly  chilled,  we  took  turns  stealing  down  trail  to  a 
hill  behind  which  we  would  run  back  and  forth  until 
warmed  up,  and  all  this  time  the  bear  never  came,  except 
at  night  when  it  was  so  dark  that  we  could  not  see  to  shoot, 
and  every  time  he  came  he  dragged  the  remains  of  the  old 
horse  to  the  cedars,  and  then  we,  in  turn,  would  drag  it 
back  again.  And  thus,  finally,  there  remained  nothing 
but  polished  bones. 


n6  The  Grizzly  Bear 

All  this  time  nothing  had  happened  at  the  deadfall. 
After  there  was  nothing  more  to  pick  from  the  horse's  bones 
at  the  blind,  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  we  had  had 
enough,  and  as  we  were  now  out  of  supplies,  we  decided  to 
take  a  last  look  at  the  deadfall,  spring  it,  walk  out  and  get 
the  pack-horses,  and  give  it  up  until  the  next  year.  Cole- 
man,  as  a  last  attention,  had  placed  the  bones  in  a  neat  pile, 
and  the  next  morning  on  our  way  up  the  canon  we  were 
astonished  to  find  that  the  bear  had  again  been  there  and 
that  the  bones  were  gone.  We  went  on  up  to  the  deadfall, 
and  here  another  surprise  awaited  us.  The  bear  had  been 
there  also.  He  had  climbed  up  by  the  back  way,  had  torn 
out  the  logs,  had  hurled  them  to  the  four  winds,  had  taken 
the  head  and  neck  of  the  horse,  and  had  left  for  parts  un- 
known. When  Coleman  looked  at  the  wreck,  he  sat  down 
on  one  of  the  logs  and,  rubbing  his  head,  said,  "Let's  go 
home.  We  are  babes  in  the  wood,  compared  to  these 
bears."  So  once  more  we  fastened  up  our  tent  door  and 
took  our  guns  and  walked  out  of  the  country.  We  had 
seen  twenty-one  grizzlies  and  had  never  fired  a  shot.  We 
had  only  once  been  near  enough  to  shoot  at  one,  and  that 
was  the  first  one  we  had  seen.  So  we  went  home  to  think 
it  over,  and  plan  and  scheme  until  another  spring,  when 
we  were  determined  to  try  it  again. 


XIII 
THE  SELKIRKS  REVISITED 

THE  next  spring — for  we  held  to  our  determination 
to  again  match  wits  with  the  Selkirk  grizzlies — we 
reached  our  old  hunting  grounds  during  the  first  week  of 
May,  Mr.  G.  O.  Shields  being  also  of  the  party.  This 
time,  however,  in  pursuance  of  a  plan  settled  upon  during 
the  winter,  we  took  along  three  dogs,  purposing  to  see  what 
could  be  accomplished  by  running  the  bear.  We  hired 
these  from  a  man  who  bred  them  for  running  coyotes  and 
cougars,  but  who  guaranteed  them  to  run  "anything  that 
wore  hair,"  and  we  paid  fifty  dollars  for  the  use  of  the 
three  for  the  trip,  agreeing  that  if  we  wished  to  keep  any  of 
them,  or  if  any  of  them  were  lost,  we  would  pay  one  hun- 
dred dollars  each  for  them.  They  were  a  cross  between 
the  foxhound  and  the  bloodhound,  and  had  good  speed, 
being  able  to  run  down  a  coyote  in  a  few  hours. 

When  we  arrived  at  our  former  camp,  we  found  that 
an  old  trapper  had  already  moved  in  on  snow-shoes  and 
had  about  a  dozen  traps  set.  He  had  not  yet  caught  any 
bear,  although  he  had  seen  two  the  day  before  our  arrival, 
and,  as  we  did  not  care  to  run  hundred-dollar  dogs  among 
set  bear  traps,  Coleman  decided  to  buy  the  old  fellow  out 

and  have  the  field  to  ourselves.    It  took  two  days'  talking 

117 


n8  The  Grizzly  Bear 

to  strike  a  bargain,  and  then  it  was  agreed  that,  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  the  trapper  would  spring  his 
traps  and  leave  the  country  until  we  were  through  hunting, 
when  he  was  to  be  at  liberty  to  come  back  and  take  up  his 
work  where  he  had  dropped  it. 

Just  as  the  bargain  was  closed  I  looked  up  the  slide 
where  we  had  seen  our  second  bear  the  year  before,  and 
there,  six  or  eight  hundred  yards  away,  was  an  old  grizzly 
unconcernedly  eating  grass.  Coleman  and  I  seized  our 
rifles  and  started  across  the  valley  toward  one  of  the  trails 
we  had  cut  for  such  occasions,  and  the  old  trapper,  in  a 
holiday  mood,  reached  for  his  gun  and  brought  up  the 
rear.  We  had  the  creek  to  cross  and  a  steep  bank  to  climb 
beyond  it,  and  between  the  camp  and  the  creek  there  was 
at  least  four  feet  of  snow,  its  surface  made  treacherous  and 
insecure  by  hidden  cavities  that  had  melted  around  the 
warm  trunks  of  fallen  trees.  Just  as  we  reached  the  creek 
we  heard  a  cry,  and  turning,  saw  the  old  man's  face  pro- 
jecting ludicrously  from  a  snow-drift,  and  looking  like  a 
red  and  angry  sun  poised  at  the  horizon.  It  was  no  time, 
however,  for  either  jokes  or  rescues,  and  Coleman  and  I 
crossed  the  creek,  climbed  the  bank,  struggled  through  a 
thicTcet  of  brush  surmounting  it,  and  gained  the  trail  that 
we  had  cut  the  year  before;  and  then,  with  bent  backs  and 
silent  steps,  we  worked  our  way  to  the  edge  of  the  little 
stream  fed  by  the  melting  snow  and  just  beyond  which  we 
had  seen  the  bear.  Cautiously  we  covered  the  last  few 
steps,  cautiously  we  peered  between  the  branches,  and  (it 
was  so  like  old  times  that  it  made  us  feel  at  home)  the 
bear  was  gone. 

As  we  stood  for  a  time  peering  carefully  about  us,  my 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  119 

eye  was  caught  by  something  in  the  bushes  just  across  the 
slide — something  that  looked  like  hair  moving  in  the 
wind — and  I  told  Coleman  that  I  believed  the  bear  was 
lying  down  over  there  in  the  sun.  He,  however,  pooh- 
poohed  the  idea,  saying  that  for  his  part  he  did  not  be- 
lieve these  northern  grizzlies  ever  lay  down  anywhere;  and 
he  proceeded  to  jump  the  creek  and  start  across  the  slide. 
As  he  did  so  I  saw  the  spot  I  had  taken  to  be  a  sleeping 
bear  move,  raise  its  head,  look  over  its  shoulder  at  Cole- 
man, and  start  to  move  away;  and  as  there  was  no  chance 
to  give  Coleman  the  shot,  I  hurriedly  fired  myself  and 
scored  a  clean  miss.  The  bear  was  now  well  on  his  feet  and 
under  pretty  good  headway,  but  I  would  have  reached  his 
shoulder  with  my  second  shot  had  he  not,  just  as  I  pressed 
the  trigger,  turned  his  head  to  look  at  us  and  taken  the 
bullet  full  in  the  mouth,  which  it  swept  clean  of  front  teeth 
on  both  jaws.  Coleman  now  got  into  the  game,  and  as  the 
bear  was  going  straight  away  from  him,  planted  a  shot 
fairly  in  the  centre  of  his  back,  cutting  the  spine,  and  he 
rolled  down  the  bank  to  our  very  feet.  And  so,  at  last, 
tamedly  enough  we  made  our  first  kill  among  the  reputedly 
savage  grizzlies  of  the  Selkirks. 

The  bear  was  not  a  large  one,  weighing  only  about 
three  hundred  pounds,  and  Shields,  who,  with  the  old 
trapper,  now  came  up,  said  it  was  not  the  one  we  had 
started  after.  That  one,  it  seems,  had  moved  off  into  the 
bushes  almost  as  soon  as  we  left  camp,  and  examination 
showed  that  the  one  we  killed  had  had  a  very  comfortable 
bed  in  the  brush  and  had  probably  been  lying  there  for 
some  time. 

The  next  day  the  old  trapper  made  the  round  of  his 


120  The  Grizzly  Bear 

traps,  sprung  them,  and  taking  one  or  two  of  them  with 
him,  went  over  the  range  to  our  left,  to  where  he  said  there 
was  also  good  bear  country.  We  were  now  anxious  to  find 
a  fresh  trail  and  see  what  the  dogs  would  do  with  the  griz- 
zlies, or — for  we  owned  ourselves  subject  to  doubts — what 
a  grizzly  would  do  to  the  dogs.  The  following  morning, 
some  distance  up-stream,  we  came  across  tracks  that 
had  evidently  been  made  the  evening  before,  and  as  these 
led  toward  camp,  and  we  thought  the  animal  might  be 
near  by,  we  followed  them  up  and  jumped  the  bear  within 
two  hundred  yards.  He  immediately  plunged  downhill 
into  a  thicket  near  the  creek,  and  leaving  Coleman  to 
watch  the  place,  I  went  back  to  camp  to  fetch  the  hounds. 
On  our  return  I  found  that  the  bear  had  not  come  out,  and 
when  the  dogs  saw  his  track  in  the  snow  they  stopped,  took 
one  good  sniff,  and  then  gave  tongue  in  a  way  that  made 
the  canon  sound  like  a  hurdy-gurdy. 

But  the  bear  at  the  very  start  had  a  surprise  to  spring 
on  us.  The  water  in  the  creek  was  bank  high,  and  so  boil- 
ing swift  that  we  thought  nothing  could  live  in  it  for  a 
moment.  We  had  therefore  taken  it  for  granted  that  the 
bear,  when  the  dogs  dislodged  him,  would  have  to  run 
either  up  or  down  its  banks  or  toward  the  hill.  Instead  of 
this,  however,  he  made  straight  for  the  creek,  plunged  in, 
and  had  crossed  before  we  could  come  within  shot  of  him. 

A  moment  later  the  three  dogs,  baying  their  best, 
plunged  into  the  current  and  were  instantly  swept  down- 
stream at  race-horse  speed;  while  we  stood  open-mouthed 
and  mentally  entered  up  three  hundred  dollars  for  drowned 
dogs  on  the  debit  side  of  the  ledger.  But  the  dogs  were 
game.  Swimming  desperately,  they  at  last,  far  down  the 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  121 

creek,  managed,  one  by  one,  to  make  the  shore.  And  then, 
giving  but  a  moment  to  shaking  themselves  free  of  cold  water 
and  bad  memories,  they  once  more  gave  tongue  and  took 
up  the  pursuit.  Coleman  and  I,  in  order  to  cross,  had  to 
go  down-stream  quite  a  distance  to  our  foot-log,  and  by  the 
time  we  had  retraced  our  steps  the  chase  had  swept  out 
of  hearing.  We  followed  the  trail  for  half  a  mile  or  so  and 
found  that  the  bear  was  making  straight  up  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  and  thinking  it  likely  that  he  was  heading  across 
toward  the  little  bottom  where  we  had  killed  the  horse  the 
year  previous,  and  where  so  many  trails  converged,  we 
decided  to  skirt  the  base  of  the  hill  instead  of  scaling  it. 
But  when  we  reached  the  bottom  we  found  no  trace  of  the 
bear,  nor  could  we  hear  the  dogs,  and  as  Coleman  by  now 
was  nearly  tuckered  out  bucking  the  deep  snow,  he  de- 
cided to  return  to  camp. 

But  for  my  own  part  I  had  no  such  intention.  Seeing 
the  first  part  of  the  bear's  trail  had  fired  me  to  see  more  of 
it,  and  so,  parting  from  Coleman  at  the  point  where  the 
grizzly  had  left  the  water,  I  followed  in  his  wake.  For 
some  distance  he  had  kept  alongside  the  hill,  and  then,  find- 
ing that  the  dogs  were  nearing  him,  he  had  turned  straight 
up  the  mountain.  The  surface  of  the  snow  was  soft  and  his 
tracks  told  their  story  plainly,  and  he  was  a  wily  old  cam- 
paigner, and  a  strategist  that  knew  his  own  advantages. 
In  going  up  the  mountain  he  had  deliberately  picked  the 
worst  possible  going,  and,  in  places,  had  even  scaled  cliffs 
that  the  dogs  had  had  to  go  around.  Again,  he  had  turned 
at  right  angles  and  run  horizontally  along  hillsides  so  steep 
that  the  dogs,  to  keep  from  falling  headlong,  had  had  to 
give  ground  and  veer  downhill.  He  accomplished  this 


122  The  Grizzly  Bear 

feat  and  kept  his  huge  weight  from  slipping  downward  by 
simply  twisting  his  fore  paws  till  his  huge  claws  engaged 
the  snow  like  hooks.  To  put  it  plainly,  when  he  was 
headed  south,  his  fore  claws  pointed  east,  uphill. 

What  with  these  tactics,  and  his  natural  speediness, 
he  was  so  far  ahead  of  the  dogs  when  he  reached  the  sum- 
mit of  the  mountain  that,  as  his  trail  plainly  showed,  he 
had  stopped  and  stood  on  his  hind  legs  to  look  or  listen  for 
them,  and  then,  dropping  again  on  all-fours,  he  had  started 
down  the  opposite  slope.  Now,  if  his  tactics  in  the  ascent 
had  been  masterly,  his  method  of  going  down  was  spec- 
tacular. The  snow  was  comparatively  soft  for  a  depth  of 
two  feet  or  so,  and  that  bear's  trail  looked  like  the  track  of 
a  huge  boulder.  He  had  simply  turned  on  full  steam, 
pulled  the  throttle  wide  open,  and  let  her  go.  There  were 
places  where  I  took  nine  steps  to  cover  one  of  his  jumps. 

Arrived  at  the  bottom  of  the  mountain  I  found  that, 
after  all,  the  bear  had  made  for  and  passed  the  place  at 
which  we  had  looked  for  him,  and  that  had  we  waited  we 
would  probably  have  got  a  shot  at  him.  As  it  was  he 
had  followed  one  of  our  cut  trails  for  half  a  mile  and  then 
again  turned  up  the  mountain;  and  as  it  had  begun  to  rain 
and  I  had  no  coat,  and  as  no  man  could  successfully  follow 
a  bear  afoot  in  that  snow,  I  also  decided  to  return  to  camp. 

But  fortune  is  a  capricious  lady,  especially  in  the  wil- 
derness. She  takes  the  keenest  delight  in  making  game  of 
our  best  efforts  and  in  mocking  our  pet  vanities,  and  then 
she  tosses  the  unexpected  into  our  laps.  Just  as  I  turned 
back  a  large  grizzly  came  breaking  through  the  brush  at 
my  right,  straight  into  the  slide  where  I  was  standing,  and, 
without  moving  a  step,  I  dropped  him  with  a  single  shot. 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  123 

He  was  a  fine  animal,  much  larger  than  the  first  one  we  had 
killed,  and  after  looking  him  over  I  left  him  where  he  had 
fallen,  and  we  came  up  the  next  day  and  skinned  him. 

The  dogs  did  not  return  to  camp  for  about  nine  hours, 
and  while  we  never  knew  whether  they  caught  up  with  the 
bear  or  not,  we  had  our  own  opinions.  I  doubt,  indeed, 
if,  master  of  strategy  as  he  was,  and  with  the  lead  he  had 
when  I  turned  back,  the  dog  ever  lived  that  could  have 
caught  him,  or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  any  grizzly  in  those 
hills  that  felt  disposed  to  run.  As  we  were  to  discover 
later,  however,  by  no  means  all  of  them  were  so  disposed. 
But  the  alternative  that  they  adopted  and  its  effect  upon 
these  particular  dogs  was  a  puzzle  we  were  a  long  time  in 
solving. 

Meanwhile  our  enthusiasm  for  hunting  bears  with  dogs 
suffered  an  eclipse.  It  seemed  to  us  that  the  bear  and  the 
dogs  had  all  the  fun,  and  we  could  not  see  where  our 
chances  of  a  shot  came  in.  So  we  tied  the  hounds  up  in 
camp  and  reverted  for  a  while  to  our  original  tactics. 

Toward  evening  the  next  day  we  climbed  up  to  the  big 
slides  where  we  had  once  set  the  old  deadfall,  and  sighted 
two  grizzlies  feeding  along  the  edges  of  the  bushes.  When 
we  had  succeeded  in  creeping  up  to  within  three  hundred 
yards  of  them  I  thought  it  best  to  risk  a  shot;  but  Coleman 
decided  that,  as  they  had  not  yet  seen  us,  we  could  get  a 
little  nearer,  and  although  one  of  them  stood  up  and 
sniffled  over  his  shoulder,  when  he  dropped  down,  and  both 
went  on  feeding  their  way  toward  a  clump  of  brush,  Cole- 
man started  to  cross  a  small  creek  in  order  to  approach 
them.  As  he  did  so  we  saw  the  bears,  now  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  brush  and  two  hundred  yards  further  away, 


124  The  Grizzly  Bear 

sprinting  for  all  they  were  worth  for  the  mountain.  We  at 
once  began  to  shoot,  but  though  we  saw  dirt  fly  up,  now 
in  front  and  now  behind  them,  we  failed  to  hit  them,  and 
they  soon  veered  to  the  left  and  disappeared  up  a  gulch, 
while  we  returned  to  camp,  promising  each  other  to  be 
more  prudent  another  time. 

We  had  already  seen  the  tracks  of  the  old  grizzly  that 
had  eaten  our  horse  the  previous  year,  and  that  we  had 
nicknamed  "  Big  Foot. "  He  had  evidently  made  several 
trips  to  the  old  bones,  and  we  decided  to  make  a  try  for 
him  in  the  morning.  After  breakfast,  therefore,  we  walked 
up  to  the  slide  and,  as  luck  would  have  it,  the  first  thing 
that  we  saw  was  our  old  friend  about  four  hundred  yards 
away,  digging  roots  and  browsing  in  the  open  ground.  We 
immediately  sat  down  and  held  a  paw-wow,  the  subject  of 
debate  being  whether  we  should  shoot  from  where  we  were 
or  try  to  get  nearer.  The  experience  of  the  previous  day 
finally  decided  us  and,  taking  careful  aim,  we  both  fired  at 
the  same  time.  Big  Foot  jumped  about  five  feet  into  the 
air,  turned  his  nose  up  the  hill,  and  beat  his  own  best  rec- 
ord into  a  clump  of  juniper  bushes.  We  thought  we  had 
wounded  him  and  I  was  about  to  go  to  camp  and  get  the 
dogs,  when  we  saw  him  appear  far  up  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain on  a  boulder  that  overlooked  the  valley.  And  when 
I  planted  a  ball  against  the  rock  directly  under  him,  he 
turned  a  complete  back  somersault  and,  landing  in  a  cloud 
of  dust  among  the  bushes,  disappeared.  This  time  we 
returned  to  camp  as  disgusted  with  prudence  as  the  day 
previous  we  had  been  out  of  humor  with  rashness. 

We  now  thought  we  might  get  a  bear  by  baiting,  so  we 
took  the  body  of  the  grizzly  we  had  shot,  roasted  it,  and 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  125 

placed  it  where  the  old  horse  had  been  killed  the  year  be- 
fore. But  the  bears  did  not  touch  it. 

The  old  trapper  came  over  to  see  us  and  reported  seeing 
quite  a  number  of  bears  in  his  part  of  the  country.  He  had 
wounded  one,  but  it  got  away,  and  he  had  also  set  several 
traps,  but  none  of  the  animals  could  be  coaxed  to  walk  into 
them.  He  had  used  fish,  honey,  and  molasses  and  had  even 
killed  wild  goats  for  bait,  but  the  bear  would  have  none  of 
them.  After  he  had  gone  back,  however,  having  killed  a 
goat  ourselves,  we  laid  some  pieces  of  meat  near  the  bones 
of  the  old  horse.  We  had  also  tied  a  choice  piece  for  our 
own  use  to  the  end  of  a  rope,  and  had  swung  it  from  a  high 
limb  for  safe  keeping.  The  next  day  we  found  that  the  bait 
had  not  been  touched,  but  the  piece  we  had  swung  from 
the  tree  was  gone.  The  tree  was  clawed  and  torn,  the  rope 
was  broken,  and  our  goat  ham  had  vanished. 

This  was  almost  too  much  for  Coleman.  He  said  he 
had  tried  it  the  year  before,  and  he  was  satisfied  that  no 
one  was  smart  enough  to  get  ahead  of  these  northern  griz- 
zlies, but  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  understand  how  a 
grizzly  got  up  that  tree.  I  would  not,  indeed,  believe  that 
a  bear  had  stolen  the  meat,  and  so  proposed  to  set  a  trap, 
not,  however,  with  the  expectation  of  catching  one.  We 
therefore  took  one  belonging  to  the  old  trapper  and  set  it 
at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  tied  the  rest  of  the  goat  meat  to  the 
rope,  and  again  swung  it  in  the  branches,  and  the  next 
morning  we  had  a  very  large  brown  bear.  This  was  the 
first  bear  other  than  a  grizzly  that  we  had  ever  seen  in  that 
country,  and  we  were,  of  course,  sorry  to  have  caught  it. 
It  was  the  first  bear  I  had  ever  caught  in  a  trap. 

We  were  now  at  our  wits'  end  and  ready  to  follow  up 


1 26  The  Grizzly  Bear 

any  hint  that  the  dogs  gave  us.  We  had  turned  them  out  one 
morning  for  a  few  minutes'  exercise,  and  although  startled 
when  they  immediately  bolted  howling  across  the  creek, 
when  they  stopped  barking  after  running  a  few  hundred 
yards,  we  paid  no  further  attention  to  them;  but  when  they 
did  not  come  back  by  the  time  we  were  through  lunch,  we 
decided  to  go  after  them.  The  truth  is  that  we  were  rather 
uneasy  because,  when  the  old  trapper  had  left,  he  had  told 
us  of  one  trap  that  he  had  forgotten  to  spring,  and  we  had 
promised  to  attend  to  it;  but  it  had  slipped  our  minds,  and 
now  that  the  dogs  were  out  we  became  worried  about  it. 
He  had  told  us  where  it  lay,  and  I  started  to  go  up  and 
spring  it,  but  as  I  crossed  the  creek  I  stopped  about  half- 
way over  to  listen,  thinking  I  heard  the  dogs,  and  just  as  I 
halted,  the  bark  on  the  log  gave  way  and  I  shot  down, 
striking  my  side  heavily  on  the  log  and  breaking  two  ribs. 
After  climbing  out  of  the  creek  and  getting  my  breath,  I 
dragged  myself  up  to  the  trap  and  sprung  it,  and  then  got 
back  to  camp,  and  when  Coleman  came  in  we  took  some 
flour  sacks,  made  a  corset  for  my  broken  ribs,  and  then  sat 
down  and  waited  for  the  dogs.  They  did  not  return,  how- 
ever, until  some  time  in  the  night,  when  they  came  in  and 
stuck  their  cold  noses  in  our  faces.  We  tied  them  up  and 
returned  to  bed,  deciding  to  go  up-stream  in  the  morning 
and  find  out  what  they  had  been  doing. 

After  an  early  breakfast  we  started,  and  not  over  two 
hundred  yards  from  camp  we  saw  bear  tracks  that  meas- 
ured eight  by  twelve  and  a  half  inches  and  dog  tracks  par- 
alelling  them  on  either  side.  This  bear,  evidently,  had  not 
run;  he  had  crossed  the  creek  and  walked  steadily  along  up 
the  trail.  Every  little  while  we  could  see  where  he  had 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  127 

turned  and  struck  at  the  dogs,  and  where  they  had  jumped 
aside,  but  only  to  come  back  when  he  moved  on.  But 
why  we  had  not  heard  them  bark  was  a  mystery  to  us,  and 
this  only  deepened  as  we  followed  the  trail  for  about  three 
miles  and  found  that  during  this  entire  distance  the  bear 
had  not  gone  out  of  a  walk.  Of  course  we  felt  that  we 
had  lost  a  fine  bear. 

We  decided,  therefore,  to  try  the  dogs  again. 

There  was  a  slide  across  the  creek  from  us  that  we  had 
named  the  Gateway.  It  ran  through  a  deep  gulch  in  the 
face  of  the  mountain,  and  opened  out  suddenly  into  a  fan- 
shaped  declivity  that  sloped  to  the  creek  nearly  half  a  mile 
below,  and  was  covered  clear  to  the  bottom  with  fifty  feet 
of  snow.  Above  this  opening,  the  mountain  on  one  side 
showed  steep,  high  cliffs,  broken  into  terraces.  On  the 
other  grew  an  open  forest  with  little  underbrush,  but  much 
down  timber,  and  just  beyond,  round  a  point  of  the  hills, 
was  a  mountain  stream  that  fairly  hurled  itself  down  to  the 
creek.  The  whole  mountain  was  so  steep  that  we  could 
only  climb  it  by  grasping  at  bushes  and  fallen  trees. 

Just  as  we  came  opposite  to  this  slide  on  our  next  ex- 
cursion, we  missed  the  dogs  and,  turning  to  look  for  them, 
heard  a  chorus  of  barks  receding  up-stream  on  the  other 
side  of  the  creek.  We  followed,  but  after  going  half  a  mile, 
the  dogs  turned  and  made  straight  for  the  Gateway,  and 
when  they  suddenly  stopped  barking,  determined  to  dis- 
cover the  meaning  of  such  conduct,  we  crossed  the  stream 
and  found  them  sniffing  about  the  edge  of  the  mountain 
torrent,  the  bear  evidently  having  taken  to  the  water  and 
put  them  off  the  scent.  We  waited  some  time,  but  the  dogs 
seemed  unable  to  pick  up  the  trail,  and  as  my  broken  ribs 


128  The  Grizzly  Bear 

incapacitated  me  from  much  climbing,  we  gave  it  up.  The 
next  day  we  tried  the  Gateway  by  ourselves.  When  about 
halfway  up  the  slide,  we  saw  a  big  grizzly  some  hundreds 
of  yards  away,  moving  along  as  though  time  were  no  ob- 
ject to  him.  Coleman  tried  to  get  within  range,  but  when 
he  had  gone  fifty  yards  or  so  the  bear  turned  and,  still  with 
every  appearance  of  leisure,  disappeared  behind  some 
bushes.  After  some  waiting,  as  he  did  not  reappear,  we 
went  to  investigate,  and  found  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  got 
behind  the  bushes,  he  had  started  on  a  dead  run.  I  then 
went  back  to  camp  for  the  dogs,  and  when  we  put  them 
on  the  trail,  they  promptly  followed  it  round  the  point  to 
the  torrent  and  again  lost  it. 

The  first  of  June,  the  date  when  we  had  ordered  our 
pack-horses  to  be  sent  in  for  us,  was  now  approaching. 
The  last  week  of  May,  Dr.  C.  S.  Penfield,  of  Spokane, 
joined  us,  and  we  continued  to  hunt  every  day,  but  with 
no  better  success.  At  last  we  had  but  one  day  left  before 
we  were  to  go  out,  and  we  decided  to  take  the  dogs  and 
look  up  our  old  friend  Big  Foot.  We  had  no  trouble  in 
jumping  him,  but,  as  usual,  he  easily  threw  the  dogs  off  the 
trail,  and  so,  as  a  last  resort,  we  thought  we  would  give  the 
old  fellow  in  the  Gateway  a  final  try. 

We  laid  very  elaborate  plans.  The  doctor  and  Coleman 
were  to  stand  at  the  main  creek,  one  above  the  slide  and 
one  below  it.  I  was  to  take  the  dogs  across,  let  them  loose, 
and  then  hasten  to  the  torrent  around  the  point  of  the 
mountain,  and  lie  in  wait  to  see  what  it  was  the  bear  did 
to  throw  the  dogs  off  his  track.  Almost  as  soon  as  I  started 
up  the  slide,  the  dogs  struck  a  scent  and  headed  up-stream. 
This  was  something  we  had  not  counted  on,  as  they  had 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  129 

nearly  always,  after  circling  about  in  the  thicket,  made  for 
the  point.  It  was  useless,  however,  for  me  to  try  to  change 
the  programme,  so,  for  lack  of  anything  better  to  do,  I  kept 
on  toward  the  Gateway.  The  dogs  swept  on  up-stream 
and  soon  passed  out  of  hearing,  and  I  kept  on  up  the  slide. 

As  I  approached  the  point  where  the  dogs  had  always 
lost  the  trail,  I  saw  that  an  old  she  bear  and  two  cubs  had 
been  digging  there  for  roots  that  morning,  it  having 
rained  nearly  all  night  and  the  tracks  having  been  made 
since  it  stopped.  I  then  climbed  the  high  snow  banks  and 
listened  for  the  dogs,  and  soon  I  could  hear  them,  appar- 
ently returning.  On  they  came  nearer  and  nearer,  while 
I,  with  a  clear  view  for  two  hundred  yards  in  every  direc- 
tion, stood  with  my  gun  half  raised,  waiting  for  the  bear  to 
break  cover  and  make  for  his  favorite  place  at  the  point. 
I  was  certain  that  this  time  he  was  making  his  last  run. 
But  when  the  dogs  appeared,  going  like  mad,  there  was 
not  a  solitary  thing  in  front  of  them.  They  passed  just 
below  me  and,  when  they  reached  the  bank  of  the  stream, 
turned  suddenly  to  the  right,  ran  up  into  the  point,  and 
as  suddenly  ceased  barking. 

I  watched  and  waited,  and  they  soon  came  out  and 
ranged  about — interested,  but  not  at  all  excited — where 
the  bear  and  cubs  had  been  digging.  I  was  now  utterly 
at  sea  and  thoroughly  determined  to  find  out  what  had 
become  of  that  old  she  bear  and  her  cubs,  and  why  the 
dogs  should  run  so  fast  and  true  to  this  point  and  then  lose 
the  trail.  It  seemed  certain  now  that  this  bear  was  the 
one  they  were  after,  and  that  they  had  simply  followed  her 
in  her  various  meanderings  up  the  stream  and  back  again. 
I  therefore  whistled  to  them  and  started  to  crawl  through 


130  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  thick  brush  into  the  open  timber  beyond.  My  broken 
ribs  were  not  yet  healed  and  I  had  my  gun  in  my  hand  and 
a  camera  on  my  back,  and  as  it  was  hard  work,  I  made  no 
effort  to  get  through  without  noise.  The  last  thing  I 
thought  of  was  that  that  bear  was  in  there. 

Upon  reaching  the  farthest  edge  of  the  tangle  I  came 
to  a  fallen  tree  that  lay  about  four  feet  from  the  ground, 
with  the  brush  so  thick  underneath  it  that  it  was  necessary 
to  climb  over  it.  Catching  hold  of  a  limb  with  each  hand, 
I  drew  myself  up,  painfully  enough,  till  my  knees  rested 
on  the  trunk,  and  there,  not  over  fifty  feet  up  the  hill 
from  me,  with  her  fore  paws  planted  on  another  log,  I 
saw  a  grizzly  that,  just  then,  looked  to  me  to  be  about  the 
size  of  a  cow.  I  made  a  frantic  effort  to  get  on  my  feet, 
and  as  soon  as  she  saw  that  it  was  not  the  dogs  that  were 
after  her,  the  bear  started  pell-mell  up  the  hill.  I  had  no 
time  to  stand  up  and  aim,  so  I  fired  off-hand  from  my 
knees  and  then  quickly  grasped  a  limb  to  keep  from  pitch- 
ing forward  on  my  nose.  I  hit  the  bear  somewhere,  for  she 
rolled  back  against  the  log,  but,  almost  instantly  recovering 
herself,  again  started  up  the  mountain.  I  took  another 
off-hand  shot  and  again  grabbed  the  limb  to  keep  from 
falling.  Again  the  bear  rolled  back,  started  off  again,  and 
for  the  third  time  I  sent  a  shot  after  her;  but  this  time  she 
kept  on  up  the  hill,  and  the  last  I  saw  of  her  she  was  dis- 
appearing round  the  bluffs  into  the  timber  with  those  fool 
dogs  now  yelping  in  pursuit. 

And  then  the  solution  of  our  mystery  suddenly  dawned 
on  me.  The  bear  had  not  fooled  the  dogs  at  all.  The  dogs 
had  fooled  us.  They  were  guaranteed  to  "run  anything 
that  wore  hair,"  and  as  long  as  the  thing  that  wore  hair 


The  Selkirks  Revisited  131 

would  run,  they  were  as  good  as  their  guarantee.  But 
there  their  responsibility  ended.  When  they  struck  a  bear 
trail  they  followed  it,  yelping  with  anticipation;  when  they 
jumped  the  bear,  if  he  ran,  they  ran  after,  still  yelping.  If 
he  refused  to  run  and  contented  himself  with  walking, 
they  followed  in  silent  hope  of  his  changing  his  mind.  But 
if  he  entered  a  thicket  and  stopped,  they  took  it  as  a  sign 
that  there  was  nothing  doing,  and  came  home.  This  was 
why  we  had  heard  no  sign  from  them  the  day  they  had  es- 
corted the  bear  three  miles  up  the  trail  from  camp.  This 
was  why  they  had  always  stopped  at  the  Gateway,  where 
the  bear  took  refuge  in  the  down  timber.  This  was  why 
Big  Foot  was  still  living  up  Wilson's  Creek.  I  sat  down 
and  laughed.  Then  I  took  up  the  bear's  trail  and  found 
such  a  showing  of  blood  as  to  make  me  believe  that  she 
lay  dead  not  far  away.  But  it  gave  me  so  much  pain  to 
pull  myself  up  the  hill  that  I  soon  had  to  give  over,  and  as 
it  set  in  to  rain  that  evening  and  kept  it  up  all  night,  the 
blood  was  washed  away  so  that  we  never  found  the  bear. 
We  did  take  the  dogs  and  go  after  the  cubs,  and  we  jumped 
them  at  the  point  where  I  had  shot  the  mother.  I  saw  one 
of  them  as  he  ran  with  the  dogs  after  him,  but  these 
stopped  barking  as  soon  as  he  stopped  running,  and  after 
a  couple  of  hours  we  gave  it  up.  It  was  impossible  to  get 
the  cubs  out  of  that  brush  with  those  dogs.  That  night 
the  horses  came,  and  the  next  day  we  packed  up  and  re- 
turned home. 

Up  to  this  time  I  had  never  doubted  that  a  she  grizzly 
would  fight  for  her  young.  I  would  have  staked  almost 
anything  that  an  old  grizzly  with  cubs  would  charge  every- 
thing within  fifty  yards.  Here,  however,  was  one  that  I 


132  The  Grizzly  Bear 

got  within  fifty  feet  of  and  wounded,  and  yet  she  scuttled 
off  and  left  her  cubs  to  look  after  themselves.  One  other 
instance  I  saw,  a  year  later,  at  the  same  place.  I  was  hunt- 
ing with  another  party  when  we  saw  from  the  opposite 
side  of  the  creek  an  old  grizzly  and  three  cubs  come  out  on 
the  snow,  walk  across,  and  go  to  digging  roots.  We  began 
a  stalk,  and  when  some  two  hundred  yards  away,  they 
got  wind  of  us  and  started  back.  My  companion  and  I 
took  several  running  shots  at  them,  and  one  of  the  cubs 
was  slightly  wounded  across  the  back.  The  four  fled  up 
the  trail  where  I  had  chased  the  wounded  bear  the  year 
before,  and  in  this  trail  our  old  friend  the  trapper,  who  was 
in  there  again,  had  set  a  trap,  and  the  wounded  cub  ran 
right  into  it.  He  at  once,  and  very  naturally,  began  to 
bawl,  and  we  fully  expected  the  old  bear  to  charge  us.  As 
she  did  not,  I  went  up  and  forced  the  cub  to  continue  his 
bawling  while  the  other  man  stood,  with  his  gun  ready  to 
shoot  when  the  mother  appeared.  But  she  and  the  other 
cubs  continued  their  retreat  and  left  the  bawling  cub  to 
his  fate. 


XIV 
THE  UNEXPECTED 

IN  hunting,  as  in  other  matters,  it  is  more  often  than  not 
the  unexpected  that  happens.  The  actual  earned  runs 
in  the  game,  especially  in  the  game  of  grizzly  hunting,  are 
few  and  far  between.  To  make  one  of  them  requires  a 
varied  knowledge,  the  skill  that  comes  from  long  experi- 
ence, dogged  perseverance,  and  an  infinitude  of  patience. 
And  the  memory  of  success  is  a  joy  forever.  But  the 
candid  hunter,  when  he  looks  backward,  will  own  that, 
for  the  most  part,  the  grizzlies  he  has  worked  hardest  for 
are  the  ones  he  never  got,  and  that  more  opportunities  are 
grasped  than  made. 

Some  years  ago  Mr.  M.  W.  Pope,  of  Baltimore,  and 
myself  were  hunting  wild  goats  in  northern  British  Colum- 
bia. This  was  virtually  the  only  game  to  be  found  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  and  there  were  none  too  many  goats. 
There  were,  it  is  true,  a  few  sheep,  but  they  were  so  few 
that  we  did  not  consider  them;  and  as  for  bears,  there  were 
practically  none. 

I  had  but  recently  spent  three  months  in  the  same 
region,  trying  to  photograph  game,  but  with  little  success. 
At  a  large  lick  I  had  seen  about  twenty  goats,  and  in  an- 
other valley  a  few  sheep,  but  I  did  not  see  a  single  deer  or 
bear,  and  only  two  or  three  bear  tracks. 

133 


134  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Mr.  Pope  joined  me  the  last  of  August,  and  we  worked 
our  way  back  to  where  I  had  seen  the  goats,  this  being  the 
game  we  had  come  to  hunt.  The  animals,  however,  had 
moved,  and  we  decided  to  go  farther  up  toward  the  divide 
between  the  Saskatchewan  and  the  Athabaska  Rivers,  and 
finally  camped  on  the  Saskatchewan  side  of  the  divide,  not 
far  from  the  summit. 

The  next  morning  we  saddled  two  horses  and  rode  up 
toward  the  crest,  some  three  miles  away,  and  when  near 
the  point  where  we  would  have  to  leave  our  horses,  I  looked 
up  to  our  right  and,  on  top  of  the  ridge  above  the  tim- 
ber line,  saw  quite  a  large  grizzly,  running  for  all  he  was 
worth.  I  called  Pope's  attention  to  him,  and  as  he  was  en- 
tirely out  of  range,  being  some  eight  hundred  yards  away, 
and  as  we  supposed  from  his  rapid  flight  that  he  had  seen 
us,  we  sat  quietly  on  the  horses  and  looked  at  him.  The 
horses,  too,  saw  the  bear  and  they  also  watched  him.  For 
two  hundred  yards  or  so  he  continued  his  flight,  and  then, 
to  our  amazement,  he  turned  down  the  ridge  and  came 
straight  toward  us  on  the  jump.  This  was  another  story, 
and,  while  we  both  dismounted,  I  held  the  horses  by  their 
heads  so  they  could  not  make  any  disturbance,  and  Pope 
stepped  a  few  feet  ahead  and  dropped  on  one  knee  ready 
for  a  shot  in  case  the  bear  came  near  enough.  He  was  armed 
with  a  .45-70  rifle,  while  I  had  only  a  Stevens  .38  shot-gun 
for  shooting  grouse. 

The  bear  came  on  downhill  at  the  same  mad  gait  until 
he  had  covered  half  the  distance  and  was  not  over  four 
hundred  yards  above  us,  when  he  suddenly  dashed  into  a 
little  thicket  of  fir  bushes  and  disappeared.  As  he  did 
not  come  out  again  we  went  into  a  committee  of  the  whole 


HE    LANDED   IN   THE    LITTLE   TRAIL    THAT   WE   WERE    FOLLOWING 


The  Unexpected  135 

to  discuss  our  chances  of  crawling  up  on  him.  We  were 
sure  now  that  he  had  seen  us,  but  there  was  not  a  bush 
between  us  and  the  bear,  and  there  was  nothing  we  could 
tie  the  horses  to,  and  we  did  not  dare  leave  them  for  fear 
they  would  run  and  frighten  the  bear.  At  this  stage  of  the 
discussion,  however,  we  saw  the  bushes  sway,  out  jumped 
the  grizzly,  and  down  he  came  again  straight  toward  us.  It 
seemed  as  if  he  must  surely  have  seen  us,  but  I  told  Pope 
to  let  him  come  as  long  as  he  would,  and  he  actually  came 
up  within  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  us,  when  he  turned 
to  the  left,  stopped,  and  commenced  digging  out  a  ground 
squirrel. 

This  was  our  chance.  The  bear  was  standing  broad- 
side on,  and  Pope  fired,  hitting  him  just  back  of  the  shoul- 
der and  piercing  the  heart.  It  was  a  good  shot.  The  bear 
turned  a  somersault,  cart-wheeled  down  toward  us,  and 
never  stopped  until  he  landed  in  the  little  trail  that  we  were 
following,  and  not  more  than  thirty  yards  from  where  we 
stood. 

This  was  Pope's  first  grizzly,  and  from  the  stories  he 
had  been  told  of  how  wild  these  bears  were  and  how  hard 
to  kill,  he  had  felt  that  it  was  doubtful  if  he  ever  got  one. 
Yet  we,  with  the  two  horses,  had  been  standing  all  the  time 
in  plain  view.  Not  a  bush  screened  us,  and  the  horses  kept 
their  ears  pointed  forward  and  watched  the  bear  from  the 
time  he  left  the  ridge  until  Pope  shot  him.  It  was  a 
strange  adventure. 

A  year  or  so  later,  while  photographing  in  the  Bitter 
Roots  with  Mr.  W.  E.  Carlin,  we  spent  most  of  the  sum- 
mer and  early  fall  on  one  of  the  divides  between  the  South 
and  Middle  Forks  of  the  Clearwater  River.  We  were 


136  The  Grizzly  Bear 

photographing  small  birds  and  animals,  and  were  only 
doing  enough  hunting  to  supply  the  larder. 

Once,  when  we  had  been  without  meat  for  a  couple  of 
days,  Carlin,  who  was  not  feeling  well,  urged  me  to  go 
out  alone  and  bring  in  some  game.  I  wished  him  to  go 
with  me,  however,  and,  as  an  inducement,  suggested  that 
we  take  the  horses  and  go  some  twelve  miles  to  the  west 
over  to  a  large  marsh  and  hunt  for  small  moose.  After 
some  coaxing  he  consented,  and  we  got  the  horses  and  rode 
over  to  the  marsh.  This  was  always  a  fine  place  for  moose 
and  grizzlies,  and  I  have  seldom  been  there  without  seeing 
one  or  the  other,  and  more  often  both,  but  we  were  not 
thinking  of  anything  but  moose  at  the  time. 

The  marsh  was  two  or  three  miles  long  and  from  a  few 
hundred  yards  to  a  mile  in  width,  with  several  little  ponds 
scattered  about  it  and  a  small  stream  running  zig-zag 
through  it.  It  was  mostly  covered  with  small  birch  brush 
from  two  to  six  feet  high.  And  there  were  little  open  parks 
here  and  there,  in  which  grew  a  plant  much  relished  by  the 
grizzly.  Arrived  at  the  marsh  we  saw  a  good  many  fresh 
tracks  of  moose,  and  also  noticed  where  an  old  grizzly  with 
two  cubs  had  been  working  among  the  plants;  and  as  the 
bear  signs  were  of  different  ages,  we  concluded  that  this 
family  had  been  spending  the  summer  there.  We  worked 
slowly  up  the  stream,  but  saw  neither  moose  nor  bear,  and 
the  farther  up  we  went  the  less  sign  we  saw  of  bear  and  the 
more  of  moose. 

After  a  time  Carlin  said  he  felt  ill  and  would  have  to 
sit  down  and  let  me  go  on  alone,  but  I  persuaded  him  to  go 
with  me  to  a  little  bend  in  the  creek,  promising  that  if  we 
saw  nothing  then  he  could  wait  and  I  would  try  and  get 


The  Unexpected  137 

the  meat.  He  went  on  then,  in  a  half-hearted  way,  and  we 
had  gone  perhaps  three  hundred  yards,  when,  on  looking 
across  the  creek  and  behind  some  bushes  among  a  few  fir- 
trees,  I  saw  what  I  took  to  be  a  moose.  I  had  scarcely 
called  out,  "Look  at  the  small  moose,"  when  the  moose 
suddenly  stood  up  on  its  hind  legs  and  looked  over  the 
bushes  at  us. 

Carlin  said,  "It's  a  bear,"  and  gave  her  a  .30-40  bullet 
through  the  shoulders,  and  she  reversed  ends  so  quickly 
that  we  could  not  afterward  remember  seeing  a  motion 
until  we  saw  the  bottoms  of  her  hind  feet  two  yards  in  the 
air.  Then  she  struck  the  ground  with  a  loud  roar,  and  two 
cubs  joined  in  with  their  bawls.  We  sprang  across  the 
creek,  found  the  old  bear  down  and  moaning  fearfully, 
and  Carlin  planted  another  bullet  in  her  head  that  shat- 
tered it  into  many  pieces. 

The  cubs  were  in  the  bushes  and  they  now  set  up  a  roar. 
One  of  them  showed  itself  and  I  laid  it  out,  and  about  the 
same  time  Carlin  got  a  shot  at  the  other  and  ended  the 
encounter.  This  was  the  first  time  that  either  of  us  had 
had  the  opportunity  of  observing  the  effect  of  high-power 
bullets  on  living  targets.  When  we  skinned  the  old  bear, 
notwithstanding  that  no  shot  had  hit  her  back  of  the 
shoulder,  we  found  that  the  bottoms  of  her  hind  feet  were 
clotted  with  blood  under  the  skin,  presumably  owing  to 
the  shock. 

The  excitement  cured  Carlin  of  his  illness,  and  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  there  was  no  meat  for  dinner,  we  returned 
to  camp  in  high  spirits. 


XV 
A  SPRING-GUN  AVOIDED 

THE  grizzly  bear  far  excels  in  cunning  any  other  ani- 
mal found  throughout  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
indeed,  for  that  matter,  he  far  excels  them  all  combined. 
I  have  seen  many  and  various  examples  of  his  shrewdness, 
but  never,  perhaps,  a  more  striking  instance  than  one 
which  took  place  while  I  was  hunting  with  a  party  in  the 
Bitter  Roots.  We  had  been  trying  to  catch  a  grizzly  alive, 
and  had  been  using  for  the  purpose  a  bear  trap  with  ropes 
stuffed  into  the  corners  of  the  jaws,  so  that  these  would 
only  come  together  far  enough  to  hold  the  bear's  foot  with- 
out inflicting  an  injury. 

We  were  camped  on  a  large  branch  of  the  Clearwater 
River,  and  one  of  the  party  having  killed  an  elk,  we 
dressed  it  and  carried  the  trimmings  to  a  point  about  a  mile 
from  camp.  Here  we  had  built  a  pen  of  logs  and  in  this 
we  planned  to  set  the  trap,  attached  to  a  light  log  so  that 
the  bear  would  not  pull  his  foot  out  in  his  struggles  to  get 
free.  On  the  second  day  I  went  to  examine  the  trap  and 
found  the  pen  demolished,  the  bait  taken  out,  and  every- 
thing that  was  movable  piled  on  top  of  the  trap.  Fifty  feet 
away  I  saw  a  large  pile  of  moss  and  leaves  scraped  together 
and  beside  it  a  bed,  where  the  bear  had  been  lying.  I 
kicked  open  the  mass  of  leaves  and  found  the  remains  of 

138 


A  Spring-Gun  Avoided  139 

the  bait  hidden  there.  I  then  dug  the  trap  out  from  the 
wreck  of  the  pen,  set  it,  and  slid  it  in  among  the  leaves  and 
moss,  throwing  some  meat  around  it,  and  that  night  the 
bear  came  again,  picked  up  all  the  loose  meat,  but  touched 
nothing  under  the  moss. 

A  mile  up  the  stream  there  was  an  open  hill,  in  the  side 
of  which  there  was  a  large  elk  lick  where  three  of  our  party 
had  been  watching,  hoping  to  bag  an  entire  family  of  elk 
that  frequented  it.  The  morning  after  the  bear  made  his 
second  visit  to  the  trap  this  family  of  elk,  a  bull,  a  cow,  and 
a  calf,  were  killed  on  a  small  flat  above  a  stream  that  en- 
tered our  river  near  the  lick.  This  stream  ran  through  a 
deep  gully  and  at  the  point  where  the  elk  were  killed  the 
sides  of  this  gully  formed  a  sort  of  shoot,  sloping  at  an  ex- 
tremely steep  angle,  from  a  point  a  hundred  feet  above  the 
water,  sheer  to  its  edge.  At  the  north  end  of  this  shoot  a 
mass  of  down  timber,  their  ends  sticking  in  the  water, 
formed  an  effective  barrier.  At  the  south  it  was  bounded 
by  an  outcropping  of  rock  which  fell,  in  a  succession  of 
ledges  three  or  four  feet  high,  to  the  water  in  front  and  to 
the  shoot  at  the  side.  Twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  from  the 
creek,  in  the  middle  of  this  shoot,  grew  an  old  cedar-tree. 

Of  the  three  animals  that  had  been  shot,  we  dressed 
the  calf  and  took  it  to  camp,  all  except  the  entrails;  we 
saved  the  head  and  hide  of  the  cow,  together  with  the  loins 
and  the  other  choice  cuts,  but  of  the  bull  we  took  only  the 
head  and  the  hide.  All  that  was  left  we  dragged  to  the  top 
of  this  shoot  and  rolled  down  it.  The  carcass  of  the  cow 
happened  to  hit  the  tree  and  lodged  against  its  trunk.  The 
old  bull  brought  up  at  the  bottom.  And  there  we  left 
them. 


140  The  Grizzly  Bear 

The  next  morning  one  of  the  party  happened  to  pass 
the  place  and  found  that  our  grizzly  had  been  there,  had 
made  a  meal  off  of  what  was  left  of  the  cow,  had  then  gone 
down,  seized  the  carcass  of  the  bull,  dragged  it  up  the 
steep  hill,  and  placed  it  on  top  of  the  cow.  He  had  then 
gone  down  again,  gathered  up  the  remains  of  the  calf, 
added  them  to  the  pile,  and,  digging  into  the  side  of  the 
hill,  had  buried  the  lot. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek  the  bank  was  equally 
steep.  At  its  top  there  was  a  heavy  growth  of  timber  and 
underbrush,  and  we  found  that  the  bear  had  come  from 
this  cover,  and  that  his  trail,  winding  down  the  bank, 
passed  between  two  large  cedar-trees  on  his  way  to  the 
creek.  We  therefore  set  the  trap  between  these  two  cedars 
and  watched  the  place  until  dark,  but  the  bear  did  not 
show  himself.  The  next  morning,  however,  we  found  that 
he  had  been  to  his  cache  for  a  meal,  but  that,  instead  of 
travelling  his  old  trail  between  the  cedars,  he  had  circled 
them,  and  although  we  watched  again  that  night,  we  saw 
nothing  of  him. 

We  were  now  within  two  days  of  the  expiration  of  our 
stay,  and  some  members  of  the  party,  who  had  never  seen 
so  large  a  bear  (his  track  measured  fifteen  inches),  de- 
termined to  set  a  spring-gun  for  him.  After  some  planning 
they  settled  upon  the  following  scheme :  A  few  feet  down- 
hill from  the  old  cedar  tree,  behind  which  the  bear  had 
buried  the  meat,  they  rigged  up  a  gun  with  its  butt  against 
the  base  of  the  rocks,  and  its  muzzle  pointing  toward  the 
barrier  of  down  timber.  A  silk  fish-line  was  then  attached 
to  the  trigger  and  fastened  at  the  other  end  to  one  of  these 
fallen  trees.  Thus,  if  the  bear  approached  his  cache  from 


A  Spring-Gun  Avoided  141 

below,  he  would  of  necessity  run  into  this  stretched  cord, 
and  receive  the  bullet  in  his  side.  He  had,  heretofore, 
always  approached  from  this  direction,  but  in  order  to 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  another  gun  was  rigged 
above  the  tree,  with  a  line  stretched  parallel  to  the  first  and 
about  twelve  feet  from  it. 

Having  completed  these  arrangements  we  returned  to 
camp,  but  though  we  slept  with  one  ear  open,  the  expected 
report  was  never  heard.  The  next  morning  when  we  went 
out  to  examine  our  trap  we  found  written  in  footprints  on 
the  dirt  as  wonderful  a  record  of  animal  sagacity  as  I  have 
ever  seen. 

The  bear  had  come  as  usual  for  his  evening  meal.  He 
had  come  down  from  his  covert,  circled  the  two  cedars 
where  our  trap  still  waited  for  him,  crossed  the  creek,  and 
climbed  to  where  the  lower  string  was  stretched  across  his 
path.  But  though  he  had  come  up  to  it  he  had  not  touched 
it.  On  the  contrary  his  tracks  showed  that  he  had  turned 
to  his  left,  followed  the  string  to  the  barrier  of  fallen  trees, 
had  found  himself  unable  to  get  around  it  there,  had 
turned  and  followed  it  to  the  rocks,  had  found  himself 
blocked  there  also,  and  had  retraced  his  steps  to  the  creek. 
He  had  then  circled  the  rocky  point,  had  climbed  to  the 
flat  above,  and  had  tried  to  reach  his  cache  from  the  other 
side.  But  here  he  had  again  encountered  the  suspicious 
string.  Once  more  he  followed  it  to  the  down  timber, 
turned  and  made  his  way  along  to  the  rocks,  and  then  the 
wily  old  fellow  had  climbed  out  on  to  the  rocky  point  and, 
making  his  way  from  ledge  to  ledge,  had  arrived  safely 
between  the  two  strings,  eaten  his  meal  in  comfort,  and 
gone  out  the  way  he  came.  We  never  got  that  bear. 


XVI 
A  PHOTOGRAPHIC  EXPEDITION 

A  GREAT  many  years  ago  my  interest  in  natural  his- 
tory, which  grew  out  of  my  interest  in  hunting, 
caused  me  to  give  a  certain  amount  of  attention  to  photog- 
raphy. Little  by  little,  as  I  became  more  expert  in  this, 
I  took  to  carrying  a  camera  with  me  on  my  various  expe- 
ditions, and  finally  I  came  to  making  excursions  with  no 
other  end  in  view  than  the  photographing  of  game.  It  was 
a  long  time,  however,  before  I  developed  a  definite  am- 
bition to  photograph  a  grizzly,  because  the  difficulties 
which  presented  themselves  in  that  field  were  so  many 
that  at  first  I  saw  no  way  of  overcoming  them. 

Much  hunting  has  not  only  made  the  grizzly  very  shy, 
but  has  caused  him  gradually  to  become  even  more  noc- 
turnal or,  to  be  accurate,  crepuscular,  than  he  was  origi- 
nally. It  follows  that  in  these  latter  days  the  chances  of 
obtaining  a  daylight  picture  of  a  grizzly  are  almost  negli- 
gible, and  though  by  some  lucky  chance  one  might  meet  a 
bear  in  a  snap-shotting  light  when  one  had  a  camera  ready, 
the  coincidence  would  be  too  unlikely  to  depend  upon. 
When,  therefore,  I  began  to  think  seriously  of  attempting 
to  photograph  these  bears,  I  of  necessity  turned  my  mind 

to  flash-light,  and  for  several  years  I  worked  and  experi- 

142 


A  Photographic  Expedition  143 

mented  to  that  end.  The  most  favorable  time  to  operate 
being  between  sundown  and  dark,  it  was  impracticable 
to  set  up  a  camera  and  leave  the  lens  open  and  provide  for 
the  exploding  of  a  flash  when  the  bear  came  along,  and  I 
therefore  set  about  perfecting  an  electrical  device  which 
at  the  same  time  would  explode  the  flash  and  spring  the 
shutter  of  the  camera.  My  first  idea  was  to  have  this 
apparatus  operated  by  the  bear  himself,  and  to  that  end 
I  constructed  it  so  that  the  trigger  could  be  tripped  by 
pressure  applied  to  a  fine  thread  or  wire,  which  could  be 
stretched  across  the  trail;  but  though  I  soon  succeeded  in 
getting  this  mechanism  to  work  well  at  home,  actual 
practice  in  the  field  developed  a  succession  of  difficulties 
which  had  to  be  overcome  little  by  little,  and  as  field  trials 
were  scarce  and  expensive,  it  took  me  a  long  time  to  ar- 
rive at  satisfactory  results. 

By  the  time  my  camera  was  in  working  order,  the  bears 
on  which  I  had  expected  to  use  it  were  all  but  things  of  the 
past;  and  having  heard  for  a  number  of  years  that  the 
grizzlies  of  the  Yellowstone  National  Park  had  become 
comparatively  tame,  and  that  it  was  no  difficult  task  to 
photograph  them,  and  having  hunted  grizzlies  in  all  the 
country  round  the  park  without  finding  the  bears  there 
different  from  what  they  were  in  other  parts  of  the  country, 
I  determined  to  take  my  camera  to  the  park  and  study  the 
grizzly  in  this  field.  This  was  in  1906. 

I  was  armed  with  a  permit  from  Major  Pitcher,  the 
acting  superintendent,  which  allowed  me  to  photograph 
and  study  the  grizzlies,  provided  I  did  not  molest  them  in 
any  way.  I  went  first  to  the  Grand  Canon.  I  found 
there  quite  a  number  of  grizzlies  feeding  in  the  evening  at 


144  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  garbage  dump  back  of  the  hotel,  and  for  a  few  evenings 
I  watched  them  there  in  order  to  determine  the  direction 
from  which  they  came,  and  to  ascertain  how  many  were 
using  this  feeding  ground.  After  watching  for  a  few  even- 
ings I  found  that  there  were  about  thirty  grizzlies  all  told 
that  came  there.  There  were  several  old  she  bears  with 
litters  of  cubs,  several  litters  two  and  three  years  old  that 
had  left  their  mothers,  but  were  still  running  together,  and 
several  old  fellows  that  came  and  went  by  themselves. 

While  I  was  watching  the  dump  in  the  evening,  I  trav- 
elled the  surrounding  country  by  day  to  see  if  any  of  these 
bears  could  be  seen  by  daylight,  and  though  I  scoured 
every  thicket  and  gully,  not  a  grizzly  did  I  thus  see  during 
some  two  weeks'  sojourn  there.  In  this  respect  they  were 
much  more  timid  than  they  were  in  a  great  many  places 
throughout  the  Selkirk  and  Rocky  Mountain  ranges. 

My  next  move  was  to  find  out  where  these  bears  hid 
when  they  were  not  feeding,  for  I  have  never  yet  seen  a 
grizzly  that  did  not  have  a  home,  either  in  some  dense 
thicket  or  in  some  heavy  timber  or  in  some  high  mountain. 
I  followed  some  of  the  more  travelled  trails  for  several 
miles  and  found  that  nearly  all  of  these  grizzlies  had  their 
headquarters  in  the  range  of  mountains  around  Mt. 
Washburn.  I  then  selected  their  largest  highway,  and 
after  setting  up  my  camera,  concealed  myself  one  evening 
about  a  hundred  feet  from  the  trail  and  to  leeward  of  it, 
and  watched  for  the  coming  of  the  grizzlies.  Across  the 
trail  I  had  stretched  a  number  forty  sewing  thread,  one  end 
attached  to  the  electric  switch  and  the  other  to  a  small 
stake  driven  into  the  ground  beyond  the  trail.  Just  below 
where  I  had  located,  there  was  an  open  park  in  which  the 


A  Photographic  Expedition  14^5 

bears  had  been  feeding,  as  was  shown  by  the  grass  that  had 
been  nipped  and  the  holes  that  had  been  dug  for  roots. 

For  some  hours  I  waited  in  the  bushes  and  fought  gnats 
and  mosquitoes.  I  saw  several  black  bears  pass  along  the 
hillside,  but  not  a  grizzly  showed  his  nose  until  after  the 
sun  had  set  and  the  little  marsh  in  the  park  was  covered 
with  a  mantle  of  fog.  Suddenly  then,  far  up  the  trail, 
appeared  what  at  first  looked  like  a  shadow,  so  slowly 
and  silently  did  it  move.  But  I  knew  at  once,  by  the  mo- 
tion of  the  head  and  the  long  stride,  that  a  grizzly  was 
coming  to  the  bottom  for  a  few  roots  and  a  feed  of  grass. 

I  watched  closely  to  see  if  he  acted  differently  from 
bears  elsewhere  that  are  supposed  to  know  less  of  man.  I 
could  not,  however,  detect  the  slightest  difference  in  his 
actions  from  those  of  bears  that  had  never  seen  Yellowstone 
Park.  All  his  movements  were  furtive  and  cautious,  as  if 
he  expected  to  meet  an  enemy  at  every  step.  He  would 
advance  a  few  feet,  and  then  stop,  turn  his  head  from  side 
to  side,  scent  the  air,  and  peer  in  every  direction. 

I  was,  of  course,  very  anxious  to  see  what  he  would  do 
when  he  came  to  the  thread  across  the  trail,  and  I  had  not 
long  to  wait,  for  he  came  on  steadily  but  slowly  and,  when 
within  ten  feet  of  the  thread,  he  stopped,  poked  out  his 
nose  and  sniffed  two  or  three  times,  raised  up  on  his  hind 
feet,  took  a  few  more  sniffs,  and  then  bolted  up  the  trail  in 
the  direction  from  which  he  had  come.  This  bear  did  not 
seem  to  have  been  very  successfully  tamed. 

A  few  minutes  after  he  had  gone  three  more  appeared. 
These  were  evidently  of  one  litter  and  appeared  to  be  be- 
tween two  and  three  years  old.  They  came  on  with  the 
same  cautious  movements,  and  when  they  were  close  upon 


146  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  thread,  they  also  stopped  and  went  through  a  similar 
performance.  The  one  in  front  pushed  out  his  nose  and 
sniffed  gingerly  at  the  suspicious  object.  Those  in  the  rear 
also  stopped,  but  being  curious  to  learn  what  was  causing 
the  blockade,  the  second  one  placed  his  forefeet  on  the 
rump  of  the  one  in  front,  in  order  to  see  ahead,  while  the 
third  one  straightened  up  on  his  hind  legs  and  looked  over 
the  other  two.  They  made  a  beautiful  group,  and  just  as 
they  had  poised  themselves,  the  one  in  front  must  have 
touched  the  string  a  little  harder  than  he  had  intended  to, 
for  there  was  a  sudden  flash  that  lit  up  the  surroundings, 
and  I  expected  to  see  the  bears  go  tearing  off  through  the 
timber,  but,  to  my  utter  surprise,  nothing  of  the  kind  hap- 
pened. They  all  three  stood  up  on  their  hind  legs,  and 
looked  at  each  other  as  much  as  to  say,  "Now,  what  do  you 
think  of  that  ?"  and  then  they  took  up  their  investiga- 
tion where  it  had  been  interrupted,  followed  the  thread  to 
where  it  was  fastened  to  the  stick,  clawed  up  the  spool, 
which  I  had  buried  in  the  ground,  sniffed  at  it,  and  then 
went  back  to  the  trail,  where  they  had  first  found  the 
thread.  Here  they  again  stood  up,  and  then,  having  either 
satisfied  their  curiosity  or  becoming  suspicious,  they 
turned  around  and  trailed  away  through  the  timber.  As 
far  as  I  could  see  them  they  went  cautiously,  and  stopped 
at  frequent  intervals  to  stand  up  and  look  behind  them  to 
see  if  there  were  any  more  flashes  or  if  anything  was  fol- 
lowing them.  Unfortunately  this  picture  was  utterly 
worthless.  I  had  failed  to  use  enough  flash  powder,  and 
when  I  came  to  develop  the  plate,  it  showed  only  the  dim- 
mest outline  of  the  animals. 

Soon  after  this  an  old  she  bear  with  three  cubs  came 


A  Photographic  Expedition  147 

down  the  trail,  but  they  were  just  as  cautious  as  the  others 
had  been.  Every  few  feet  the  mother  would  stop  and  sniff 
the  air,  and  the  cubs,  fascinating  little  imitators  that  they 
are,  had  to  copy  her  every  move.  If  she  stood  up  on  her 
hind  feet,  they  also  stood  up  on  theirs.  If  she  stopped  to 
sniff  the  air,  they  would  run  up  and,  placing  their  tiny  feet 
against  her  sides,  would  peer  wisely  and  anxiously  ahead, 
until  the  old  lady  started  on  again.  When  she  came  to  the 
thread  she  stopped  short,  and  while  she  was  making  her 
investigations  the  cubs  stood  with  their  forefeet  against 
her  and  awaited  the  verdict.  It  was  sudden  and  apparently 
surprising,  for,  after  satisfying  herself  that  the  obstacle  was 
placed  there  for  no  good,  she  gave  a  lively  snort  that 
could  have  been  heard  for  a  hundred  yards,  and  without 
waiting  for  her  youngsters  to  get  down,  suddenly  turned 
tail  and,  upsetting  the  whole  lot,  disappeared  up  the  trail 
like  a  whirlwind,  with  the  cubs  trying  their  best  to  overtake 
her. 

After  this  last  delegation  had  gone  I  waited  for  an  hour 
or  more,  but  got  no  more  photographic  opportunities. 
Several  bears  came  out,  but  it  was  too  dark  for  me  to  fol- 
low their  actions,  and  none  of  them  saw  fit  to  run  into  the 
thread.  However,  just  before  I  was  about  to  leave,  I 
heard  something  coming  down  the  trail  as  if  pursued  by 
the  devil,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  whatever  it  was  would 
be  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  to  stop  and  examine  the  string, 
and  so  it  proved.  There  was  a  bright  flash,  and  for  an  in- 
stant the  forest  was  lighted  up,  and  I  saw  an  old  black 
bear  travelling  as  if  for  dear  life.  I  had  thought  that  he 
was  at  his  best  gait  before  he  struck  the  string,  but  in  this 
I  was  mistaken.  He  had  only  been  fooling  along  before. 


148  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Now  he  got  down  to  business,  and  in  less  time  than  it 
takes  to  write  it  he  was  out  of  sight  and  beyond  hearing. 
When  I  developed  the  plate  it  looked  as  though  a  cannon- 
ball  of  hair  had  been  shot  across  it. 

This  was  my  first  evening,  and  it  did  not  pan  out  very 
heavily  in  practical  results.  But  I  had  had  a  lot  of  sport, 
and  had  begun  to  find  out,  as  later  on  I  was  to  prove  more 
thoroughly,  that  the  Yellowstone  Park  grizzlies  differ  in  no 
material  respect  from  others  of  their  species. 

The  next  afternoon  at  about  two  o'clock  I  was  again 
in  my  place  of  observation,  with  everything  again  in 
readiness  for  business.  This  time,  thinking  that  it  might 
not  be  so  easy  to  detect,  I  had  substituted  a  tiny  wire  for 
the  thread.  The  wire  was  the  finest  that  I  could  buy,  the 
kind  that  florists  use  for  winding  flowers,  and  unless  I 
knew  exactly  where  it  was,  I  could  not  see  it  myself  when 
ten  feet  away  from  it.  I  had  now  selected  a  spot  where  the 
trail  wound  around  between  some  fallen  trees,  where  there 
was  little  danger  of  the  bears  getting  scent  of  the  wire  be- 
fore they  came  immediately  upon  it. 

About  six  o'clock  there  came  up  a  heavy  thunder-storm 
and  for  more  than  an  hour  it  rained  in  torrents.  When  I 
saw  the  storm  approaching,  I  walked  over  a  little  way 
from  the  trail,  peeled  the  bark  from  a  couple  of  small  trees, 
and  covered  my  camera  and  my  can  of  batteries,  to  keep 
them  from  getting  wet.  The  flash-pan  was  fitted  with  a 
loose  cover,  easily  thrown  off  by  the  exploding  powder,  and 
having  thus  protected  my  apparatus,  I  put  on  my  rain  coat, 
crawled  under  a  thick-limbed,  umbrellalike  tree,  and 
waited  for  the  storm  to  pass.  In  the  middle  of  it  I  saw  a 
small  black  bear  coming  through  the  timber  and  headed 


A  Photographic  Expedition  149 

for  my  shelter.  At  every  flash  of  lightning  he  would  make 
a  dash  for  the  nearest  tree,  but  by  the  time  he  reached  it 
the  flash  would  be  over  and  he  would  come  on  again.  Just 
as  he  got  within  fifty  yards  of  me  there  came  a  tremendous 
bolt,  and  chained  lightning  seemed  to  run  down  every  tree. 
This  was  followed,  or  rather  accompanied,  by  a  splitting 
crash  of  thunder,  and  the  small  bear  made  one  jump  into 
the  nearest  tree,  and  never  stopped  till  he  got  near  the  top, 
where  he  crouched  down  on  a  limb,  rolled  himself  into  a 
little  ball,  with  his  nose  between  his  feet,  and  never 
moved  until  the  disturbance  was  over. 

When  the  rain  had  passed,  I  returned  to  where  I  could 
watch  the  trail,  and  waited  for  the  grizzlies.  It  was  not 
long  before  I  saw  an  old  bear  coming  down  the  trail.  He 
was  very  large  and  fat  and  would,  I  imagine,  have  weighed 
from  six  to  seven  hundred  pounds,  and  when  I  saw  him 
advancing  with  the  usual  precautionary  tactics,  I  was  well 
pleased  that  it  had  rained,  for  I  imagined  that  the  water 
must  have  obliterated  all  scent,  and  that  this  old  fellow 
was  sure  to  run  against  my  wire.  But  I  was  mistaken. 
When  some  six  feet  away  he  stopped,  nosed  his  way  slowly 
up,  and  stood  for  some  seconds  only  a  few  inches  from  it. 
Then  he  became  interested  and  worked  a  little  nearer,  and 
then  there  was  a  flash  and  he  immediately  stood  up  on  his 
hind  feet,  much  startled,  and  looking  first  in  one  direction 
and  then  in  another.  Then,  like  the  three  bears  of  the  even- 
ing before,  he  started  an  investigation.  He  dropped  down 
on  all-fours,  started  to  follow  the  wire  toward  the  switch, 
changed  his  mind,  worked  along  till  he  came  to  the  little 
stick,  and  finally  dug  up  the  spool  that  was  buried  there. 
After  thoroughly  examining  this  he  returned  to  the  trail 


150  The  Grizzly  Bear 

and  followed  my  tracks  down  to  where  I  had  taken  the 
bark  off  the  trees.  Here  he  nosed  about  for  some  time,  and 
then  finally  turned  to  the  right  and  disappeared  in  the  tim- 
ber. This  negative  proved  to  be  a  fairly  good  one,  but  it 
was  not  quite  what  I  had  hoped  to  obtain,  as  the  bear  had 
stopped  short  at  the  flash,  while  I  would  have  preferred 
him  in  motion. 

I  now  put  in  a  new  fuse  and  rearranged  the  camera,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  an  old  she  bear  and  two  cubs  came 
down  the  trail;  but  she,  after  the  usual  preliminary  exami- 
nation, proved  suspicious  of  the  arrangement,  and  after 
smelling  carefully  along  the  wire,  turned  to  the  right  and 
passed  around  the  machine.  I  had  brought  with  me  on  this 
evening  a  hand  camera  of  the  reflex  type,  built  expressly 
for  natural-history  work,  and  I  had  set  up  my  apparatus 
near  the  edge  of  the  open  park,  thinking  that  perhaps  a 
bear  might  come  out  in  time  for  me  to  get  a  snap-shot  of 
him  before  dark.  After  the  old  bear  and  cubs  had  passed, 
I  crawled  very  cautiously  to  the  edge  of  this  opening  and 
waited  for  them  there.  It  was  really  too  dark  for  a  picture, 
but  I  thought  that  I  might  at  least  have  the  satisfaction  of 
making  a  try  for  one.  I  expected  that,  after  circling  the 
camera,  they  would  come  out  into  the  marsh,  and  this  they 
did;  but  instead  of  passing  along  it  as  I  had  looked  to  see 
them  do,  they  turned  and  came  across  it  straight  toward 
me.  I  was  standing  with  the  camera  before  my  face,  watch- 
ing in  the  mirror  all  that  was  going  on,  and,  as  I  remained 
perfectly  quiet,  the  animals  did  not  see  me  until  they  were 
within  fifty  or  sixty  feet  of  me.  Then  they  went  up  on 
their  hind  legs,  with  a  cub  standing  on  either  side  of  the 
old  bear,  and  as  the  camera  clicked,  the  mother  dropped 


A  Photographic  Expedition  151 

down  and  scuttled  away  up  the  marsh.  About  fifty  feet 
from  where  they  had  stood  there  was  a  large  tree,  and  as 
the  old  bear  passed  around  this  she  was,  for  an  instant,  out 
of  sight,  and  the  two  cubs,  that  had  just  then  turned  to  fol- 
low her,  stood  perfectly  still  and  appeared  to  be  thorough- 
ly mystified.  Apparently  she  missed  them  about  the  same 
moment.  She  jumped  back,  and  poking  her  head  around 
the  tree,  gave  two  quick,  short,  emphatic  "  whoofs,"  and  the 
way  those  cubs  dropped  and  flew  to  her  was  a  caution. 
She  waited  until  they  reached  her  side,  and  then  gave  each 
one  of  them  a  sharp  cuflFthat  bowled  it  over,  and  then  both 
mother  and  cubs  disappeared  in  the  gathering  darkness. 
When  I  developed  the  plate  it  was  not  even  fogged  by  the 
exposure. 

For  another  hour  or  more  I  watched  my  set  camera. 
The  storm  had  now  entirely  passed  and  the  moon  was 
shining,  so  that  it  was  quite  light  in  the  little  glade  outside 
the  timber.  I  saw  four  more  grizzlies,  including  the  three 
that  had  come  out  the  night  before,  but  they  all  avoided 
the  wire.  On  the  following  evening  I  again  tried  for  flash- 
lights, and  while  I  saw  ten  grizzlies,  they  acted  in  about  the 
usual  way.  Not  one  of  them  set  oflPthe  flash.  Those  that 
had  already  had  experience  with  the  apparatus  did  not 
come  within  a  hundred  yards  of  me,  and  even  those  that  I 
had  not  seen  before  seemed  suspicious.  This  night  I  saw 
an  old  she  grizzly  with  four  cubs,  and  although  I  have  seen 
quite  a  number  of  black  bears  with  that  number,  this  was 
the  second  time  that  I  had  ever  seen  a  grizzly  with  so  many. 

For  three  nights  more  I  tried  different  places  along  the 
trails,  but  did  not  get  another  exposure.  Some  of  them 
came  and  nosed  about,  but  most  of  them  turned  off  at  quite 


152  The  Grizzly  Bear 

a  distance  from  the  wire,  and  finally  they  abandoned  this 
trail  altogether,  and  made  use  of  two  others  that  ran 
through  the  timber  at  quite  a  distance  from  it.  Finding, 
therefore,  that  the  bears  at  the  canon  had  evidently  taken 
alarm  at  my  operations,  I  determined  to  move  over  to  the 
lake,  sixteen  miles  away,  as  there  were  also  said  to  be  many 
grizzlies  at  that  point. 

Here,  as  at  the  canon,  I  watched  the  garbage  pile  for 
two  or  three  evenings,  and  scoured  the  country  thereabout 
during  the  day.  Finally  I  decided  on  a  trail  that  led  out  of 
the  range  of  thickly  timbered  hills,  down  through  some 
heavy  woods  and  underbrush  toward  the  west.  Here, 
also,  I  selected  a  spot  for  my  camera  at  the  edge  of  a  little 
open  glade,  that  was  covered  with  grass  and  small  willows. 
Through  this  glade  the  main  trail  ran,  and  a  branch  trail 
also  wound  around  at  its  edge  near  the  timber.  I  chose  the 
through  trail  for  my  work,  because  its  being  nearly  covered 
with  grass  afforded  me  a  longed-for  opportunity  to  conceal 
the  wire.  I  also  avoided  setting  my  camera  on  the  ground, 
and  fastened  it  to  an  iron  spike  made  for  that  purpose,  and 
driven  into  the  trunk  of  a  large  tree  about  twenty-five  feet 
from  the  path.  The  flash-pan  was  set  near  the  same  tre% 
and  the  whole  effectually  concealed  by  means  of  cut  willow 
branches  stuck  upright  in  the  ground.  The  wire  from  the 
switch  was  led  through  the  long  grass  about  a  foot  from 
the  ground,  and  its  further  end  tied  to  a  small  willow. 

When  things  were  thus  fixed  to  my  liking,  I  myself 
retired  to  a  spot  from  which  I  could  see  some  two  hundred 
yards  up  the  trail,  and  get  an  unobstructed  view  of  the 
glade  itself,  and  I  took  care  to  finish  these  arrangements 
early  enough  in  the  evening  to  give  the  man  scent  a  chance 


A  Photographic  Expedition  153 

to  dissipate  before  the  grizzlies  came  out.  I  found,  how- 
ever, that  there  were  so  many  black  bears  in  this  neighbor- 
hood that  I  was  frequently  obliged  to  show  myself  in 
order  to  frighten  them  from  the  trail,  and  protect  my  appa- 
ratus from  their  mischievous  curiosity. 

The  first  grizzly  came  down  the  trail  about  sundown. 
He  acted  much  as  those  at  the  canon  had,  and  like  them, 
he  detected  the  wire  before  he  touched  it.  He  nosed  along 
it  inquisitively,  and  then  in  a  rash  moment  tried  to  claw  it, 
when,  of  course,  there  was  a  flash,  and  he  actually  turned 
a  complete  somersault  and  disappeared  up  the  trail  at  such 
speed  that,  as  I  discovered  the  next  day,  he  fairly  tore  up 
the  earth  as  he  went. 

Somewhat  to  my  surprise  my  next  visitors  proved  to 
be  the  three  grizzlies  that  had  sprung  my  flash  at  the 
canon.  I  recognized  them  easily  by  the  markings  on  the 
shoulder  and  neck  of  one  of  them.  I  may  say  here  in  pass- 
ing, if  it  surprises  any  one  to  speak  of  recognizing  a  bear 
previously  encountered,  that  there  is  to  the  full  as  much 
individuality  in  bears  as  in  people,  and  that  it  is  perfectly 
easy  for  me  to  recognize  a  grizzly  once  seen  and  closely  ex- 
^mined,  and  under  such  circumstances  as  I  am  here  de- 
scribing I  could  tell  a  newcomer  the  moment  he  came  into 
sight  on  the  trail. 

These  three  bears  came  up  to  the  spot  where  the  wire 
was  stretched,  took  one  good  sniff,  and  appearing  to  recog- 
nize it  as  the  same  outfit  with  which  they  already  had  had 
experience,  turned  unconcernedly  to  their  right  and  passed 
by  on  the  other  side. 

just  before  dark  a  she  grizzly  and  two  cubs  made 
their  appearance,  but  just  as  they  arrived  at  the  fork  of 


154  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  trail  they  stopped,  stood  up,  sniffed  anxiously  at  the 
air,  and  then  dropped  down  and  sidled  off,  with  uneasy 
backward  glances,  as  though  they  not  only  suspected 
something  wrong,  but  feared  that  it  might  pursue  them. 
This  old  bear  was  unusually  light  in  color,  appearing  in- 
deed, in  that  light,  almost  silvery  white  over  her  entire 
body,  while  both  her  cubs,  from  where  I  stood,  appeared 
to  be  almost  jet  black.  After  this  I  waited  until  it  was 
so  dark  that  I  could  not  see  a  bear  in  the  timber,  and  hav- 
ing obtained  no  more  shots,  I  returned  to  camp. 

All  this  time  I  had  been  struggling  against  a  number  of 
difficulties,  photographic  and  electrical.  Chief  among  the 
latter  was  the  fuse  for  my  flash-pan.  I  had  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  this  regard  when  using  a  shutter  exposure  as  slow 
as  one-quarter  of  a  second;  but  if,  as  was  apt  to  be  the 
case,  there  was  any  daylight  remaining,  this  exposure  was 
too  slow  and  recorded  movement  on  the  part  of  the  animal. 
I  had,  however,  succeeded  in  finding  an  extremely  fine 
imported  German-silver  wire,  which  fused  rapidly  enough 
to  allow  me  to  use  the  shutter  exposure  of  a  hundredth 
second. 

My  first  supply  of  this  wire  having  been  limited,  I  hail 
ordered  more,  and  discovered,  when  too  late,  that  it  was 
of  a  slightly  different  size;  and  hence,  to  my  chagrin,  when 
I  came  to  develop  the  three  exposures  which  I  succeeded 
in  getting,  I  found  that  my  shutter  had  worked  too  rapidly 
for  the  fuse,  and  my  plates  showed  no  trace  of  an  image. 

At  the  time,  however,  I  thought  that  I  was  getting  along 
satisfactorily,  and  the  next  evening  I  again  set  up  my  cam- 
era at  the  same  place.  It  now  occurred  to  me  that  it  might 
be  possible,  by  reversing  my  former  tactics  and  leaving  my 


A  Photographic  Expedition  155 

scent  liberally  scattered  over  the  neighborhood,  to  allay 
the  suspicions  of  these  bears  who  were  reputed  to  be  ac- 
customed to  the  presence  of  man.  I  therefore  walked  up 
and  down  the  trail  for  some  hundreds  of  feet  and  again 
concealed  myself  where  I  could  watch  without  being  seen. 

The  first  bear  delegation  numbered  three,  but  they 
were  not  my  friends  of  the  canon,  being,  for  one  thing, 
considerably  larger.  I  judged  them  to  be  nearly  three 
years  old,  and  they  would  have  weighed,  I  should  say,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  three  hundred  pounds  apiece.  They 
were  as  sleek  as  seals,  and  one  of  them  had  a  beautiful  silver 
coat.  When  they  reached  the  point  to  which  I  had  walked 
up  the  trail,  they  stopped  and  scented  for  a  few  moments, 
turned  their  heads  in  the  direction  in  which  I  had  gone, 
and  then  came  on,  paying  no  further  attention  to  the  mat- 
ter. This  encouraged  me,  and  I  began  to  think  that  my 
ruse  was  to  prove  successful;  but  when  he  reached  the 
wire  the  leader  stopped  abruptly,  and  the  three  then  stood 
up,  looked  at  each  other  knowingly,  and  then,  for  all  the 
world  as  though  they  inferred  a  connection  between  my 
scent  and  the  presence  of  the  wire,  began  methodically  to 
track  me  up. 

I  was  standing  near  a  tree,  and,  not  having  expected 
any  such  move  on  their  part,  I  had  not  taken  the  pre- 
caution to  step  back  out  of  sight,  and  now  I  did  not  dare 
to  move  for  fear  of  frightening  them.  I  therefore  stood 
absolutely  still  and  watched  their  play  with  close  atten- 
tion and  absorbed  interest.  They  followed  my  every  turn 
as  unerringly  as  a  hound  follows  a  hare,  and  came  on 
withal  as  silently  as  three  shadows.  Of  course  I  had  been 
careful  to  select  a  station  to  leeward  of  the  trail,  and  this 


156  The  Grizzly  Bear 

now  helped  to  postpone  their  discovery  of  me.  When 
within  fifty  feet  of  me  they  came  to  a  fallen  log,  and,  when 
the  leader  had  his  front  paws  on  this,  he  stopped  and 
looked  ahead  as  though  he  felt  that  he  was  nearing  that 
which  he  sought.  The  second  bear  started  to  pass  him, 
but  he  turned  his  head  and  very  gently  took  his  com- 
panion by  the  nose  with  his  mouth,  whereupon  he  also 
stopped,  and  they  both  looked  straight  at  me.  However, 
as  I  did  not  move  a  muscle,  they  seemed  unable  to  make 
out  whether  I  was  a  living  object  or  an  inanimate  one, 
and  they  again  moved  cautiously  forward,  still  in  abso- 
lute silence.  When  about  twenty-five  feet  away,  they 
again  stood  up  and  examined  me  intently,  evidently 
doubting  whether  I  were  a  bona-fide  stump.  Here,  in- 
deed, would  have  been  a  glorious  opportunity,  had  I  had 
a  camera  in  hand,  and  had  there  been  a  trifle  more  light. 
But  they  had  come  as  far  as  they  cared  to.  Dropping 
silently  on  to  all-fours,  they  suddenly  abandoned  their 
investigations  and  bolted,  only  to  stop  at  the  end  of  a 
hundred  feet,  stand  up  again,  again  approach  within  fifty 
feet  or  so  of  me,  and  then  turn  aside  and  trail  away 
through  the  trees.  Soon  after  this,  three  more  grizzlies 
came  down  to  the  forks  of  the  trail.  These  were  a  trifle 
smaller  than  the  others,  but  by  far  the  handsomest  that  I 
had  seen.  Two  of  them  were  rather  dark,  while  the  third 
was  a  fine-looking  animal,  with  a  snow-white  head,  and 
silvery  as  far  back  as  his  shoulders.  This  is  a  typical 
marking,  but  in  this  case  it  was  strangely  accentuated, 
in  spite  of  which,  however,  his  companions  seemed  to 
approve  of  him  since  they  had  intrusted  him  with  the 
leadership. 


A  Photographic  Expedition  157 

Like  the  others,  they  stopped  at  the  string  and,  still  % 
like  the  others,  they  then  took  up  my  trail  and  that  of 
the  first  three  bears,  and  followed  it  as  surely  and  as 
silently  as  the  others  had  done.  This  time  I  took  the 
precaution  to  keep  behind  the  tree,  and  these  three  bears 
actually  came  up  within  ten  feet  of  me  before  they  dis- 
covered my  presence.  Then,  up  they  went  on  tneir  hind 
feet,  and  for  a  second  there  was  another  great  picture 
before  me:  their  thick,  furry  coats  were  magnificent,  and 
the  long  hair  standing  out  stiffly  under  their  jaws  lent  a 
curious  expression  to  their  faces. 

But,  the  second  over,  they  too,  after  retreating  and 
advancing  once  or  twice,  made  their  way  silently  into  the 
forest. 

After  some  waiting,  an  old  she  bear  with  two  yearling 
cubs  came  along,  apparently  in  a  hurry,  and  acting  as 
though  they  were  late  for  an  engagement.  I  thought  for 
a  moment  that  they  were  going  through  without  stopping, 
but  just  as  she  reached  the  wire,  the  mother  stopped 
short,  took  a  hurried  sniff,  and  then,  apparently  thinking 
it  of  no  consequence,  hurried  on  again.  She  changed  her 
mind,  however,  almost  instantly,  but  although  the  three 
turned  tail  and  reared  up  on  their  hind  legs,  instead  of 
running  away,  they  appeared  to  be  more  curious  than 
frightened;  and  it  was  only  after  rather  a  thorough  ex- 
amination of  the  wire  and  its  surroundings,  that  they 
retreated  up  the  trail,  lingeringly,  and  with  repeated 
glances  over  their  shoulders. 

I  had  hardly  reset  my  apparatus  when  an  old  fellow 
came  along,  so  huge  of  frame  that,  had  he  been  in  good 
condition  instead  of  gaunt  and  famished  looking,  he  would 


158  The  Grizzly  Bear 

have  weighed  eight  hundred  pounds.  But  he  looked  as 
if  he  had  not  had  a  square  meal  all  summer.  His  neck 
was  long,  his  body  thin,  his  legs  ungainly,  but  still  showing 
the  tremendous  muscles  typical  of  the  species.  He  seemed 
to  take  four-foot  strides,  and  I  thought  that  surely  so 
great  a  brute  would  not  stop  to  bother  over  a  little  wire; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  he  not  only  stopped,  but  nosed  his 
way  carefully  along  until  he  came  to  the  flash-pan.  This 
was  placed  upon  a  pole,  and  was  about  six  feet  above  the 
ground,  and  the  old  bear  stood  up  on  his  hind  legs  and 
looked  into  it,  after  which  he  followed  the  battery  wires  to 
the  camera,  and  then,  returning,  stood  up  a  second  time 
and  stuck  his  nose  into  the  flash-pan.  I  am  afraid  that  if 
I  had  had  a  finger  on  the  wire  that  controlled  the  switch, 
the  temptation  to  pull  it  would  have  been  too  much  for  me. 
Meanwhile  the  bear,  having  again  examined  the  camera, 
deliberately  turned  back  and  disappeared  up  the  trail, 
and,  much  to  my  surprise,  I  saw  no  more  of  him. 

My  next  visitor  was  the  largest  grizzly  that  I  had  yet 
seen.  He  would,  I  should  judge,  have  weighed  close  to  a 
thousand  pounds,  and  he  was  at  once  so  old  and  so  fat 
that  it  was  laughable  to  see  him  walk.  He  was  rather 
dark  in  color,  his  back  looked  as  if  it  were  two  feet  broad 
and  perfectly  flat,  and  his  legs  did  not  seem  to  be  more 
than  a  foot  long.  His  ears  were  hardly  visible.  Perhaps 
he  had  lost  most  of  them  in  the  riots  and  ructions  of  a 
long-vanished  youth.  Hope  dies  hard,  even  at  the  hand 
of  experience,  and  I  again  flattered  myself  that  this  old 
veteran  would  not  pay  any  attention  to  my  petty  schemes. 
He  came  to  the  forks  of  the  trail  and — took  the  other 
turning.  Then,  appearing  to  change  his  mind,  he  turned 


A  Photographic  Expedition  159 

back  and  came  down  my  trail;  and,  accepting  this  as  an 
omen,  I  counted  a  picture  of  him,  broadside  on,  as  already 
secured.  But  when  he  reached  the  wire,  he  not  only 
stopped  and  sniffed  at  it  for  several  seconds,  but  then 
reared  up  on  his  hind  feet,  gave  a  snort  that  could  have 
been  heard  for  a  hundred  yards,  and  then  whirled  about 
like  a  demoralized  coward,  and  tried  to  run.  Even  in  my 
disappointment  I  could  not  help  laughing  at  the  ludicrous 
spectacle.  I  am  sure  that  he  touched  the  ground  in  at 
least  five  places  at  every  jump,  and  he  seemed  to  think 
that  he  was  going  along  at  a  tremendous  gait,  whereas,  in 
reality,  he  was  making  the  slowest  kind  of  time.  And  he 
was  so  frightened  that  he  had  no  time  to  look  where  he 
was  going;  he  smashed  into  pretty  much  everything  he 
came  to,  and  for  five  minutes  I  could  hear  the  breaking  of 
brush  and  dead  branches  as  he  crashed  through  the  timber. 

Just  as  I  was  about  to  pack  up  for  the  night,  I  heard 
a  commotion  down  the  trail,  and  looking  up  I  saw  the 
three  bears  that  I  had  first  met  at  the  canon  coming 
toward  me  in  full  flight.  They  had  evidently  taken  some 
other  path  to  the  feeding  ground,  and,  something  having 
frightened  them,  they  were  now  coming  back  my  way  at 
their  best  gait,  and  quite  oblivious  of  the  wire,  into  which 
they  ran  with  such  force  that  it  parted.  This  time,  how- 
ever, they  did  not  stop  to  investigate  the  result,  but  acted 
as  though  they  felt  the  devil  himself  was  after  them,  and 
disappeared  up  the  trail,  at  what  I  think  must  be  about 
the  limit  of  a  grizzly's  speed. 

I  had  to  leave  in  the  morning  for  a  trip  to  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  now  gathered  up  my  outfit  and  started  for 
camp,  supposing  that  my  adventures  were  at  an  end. 


160  The  Grizzly  Bear 

In  a  knapsack  on  my  back  I  had  my  tripod  and  flash- 
pan,  the  switchboard,  and  the  connecting  wires.  In  one 
hand  I  carried  my  camera,  while  in  the  other  I  had  a 
covered  sheet-iron  box  containing  six  dry  batteries,  the 
whole  being  securely  tied  with  a  small  rope.  I  intended, 
on  my  way  to  camp,  to  see  the  agent  of  the  transportation 
company,  and  arrange  for  a  seat  on  an  outgoing  coach 
for  the  next  morning;  and  to  this  end  I  approached  the 
rear  of  a  small  mess  house  belonging  to  the  transportation 
company,  situated  behind  and  on  one  side  of  the  hotel. 
Now  it  happened  that  back  of  this  mess  house  two  barrels 
of  refuse  had  been  left  standing.  This  was  contrary  to 
the  regulations  of  the  park,  and  Major  Pitcher,  the  acting 
superintendent,  told  me  afterward  that  all  the  trouble 
they  have  ever  had  with  grizzlies  arose  from  breaches  of 
this  rule.  However,  knowing  nothing  of  this  at  the  time, 
I  was  walking  along  without  making  any  noise,  and  when 
directly  back  of  the  building,  and  not  more  than  fifty  feet 
away  from  it,  I  heard  a  sudden  rattling  among  the  cans, 
and  out  shot  two  grizzlies,  followed,  at  a  distance  of  about 
twenty  feet,  by  a  larger  one.  Taking  it  for  granted  that 
they  saw  me,  and  having,  under  such  circumstances,  no 
fear  of  the  animals,  I  kept  straight  on,  and  thus,  after  a 
few  steps,  interposed  myself  between  the  last  bear  and  the 
barrel  from  which  he  had  been  feeding.  This  he  seemed 
to  resent,  for  he  turned  angrily  and  started  toward  me. 
The  whole  situation  developed,  and  indeed  concluded, 
suddenly,  so  that  I  had  no  time  for  conscious  planning. 
As  the  bear  turned  toward  me  I  stopped  rather  mechani- 
cally, thinking  that  he,  too,  would  stop  before  he  came  up 
to  me;  for  I  had  never,  in  all  my  experience,  had  a  bear 


A  Photographic  Expedition  161 

attack  me,  and  had  always  maintained  that  no  grizzly 
would  attack  a  man  except  under  peculiar  circumstances. 
However,  this  bear  was  either  an  exception  to  my  rule, 
or  else  he  considered  the  circumstances  "peculiar." 

It  did  not  take  him  long  to  reach  me,  and,  as  he  did 
so,  he  rose  up  and  struck  at  my  ribs  with  his  right  paw. 
The  only  weapon  at  hand  being  my  can  of  batteries,  and 
this,  weighing  about  twenty  pounds,  being  no  mean 
defence  if  handled  rightly,  I  swung  it  at  him,  hoping  to 
stop  him  with  the  blow.  As  I  did  so,  however,  I  ad- 
vanced my  left  hand,  and  the  bear's  paw  caught  my 
camera,  ripping  out  the  front  board  and  the  magnet  and 
wires  attached  to  it.  Almost  at  the  same  time  I  landed 
somewhere  with  the  can,  and,  although  the  stroke  did  him 
no  damage,  it  did  set  him  back  a  foot  or  two,  and  turned 
what  had  doubtless  been  nothing  but  ill-temper  into  rage. 
With  a  loud  snort  he  came  at  me  again,  and  this  time  he 
raised  himself  to  his  full  height  and  aimed  a  vicious 
stroke  at  my  head;  and  I,  seeing  what  was  coming,  ducked 
and  closed  in  on  him.  And  I  was  just  in  time,  for  I  felt 
the  wind  from  the  blow,  and  his  paw  tore  my  hat  from  my 
head,  and  then,  passing  down  the  side  of  my  face,  struck 
me  a  glancing  blow  on  the  shoulder.  Nothing,  I  think, 
but  my  nearness  to  the  bear  saved  my  life.  Meanwhile, 
as  I  had  ducked  and  closed  in,  I  had  swung  my  right  hand 
back  of  me,  and  just  as  the  bear  delivered  his  blow  at  me, 
I  landed  mine  on  him;  and  as  I  had  swung  my  can  of 
batteries  in  a  half-circle  over  my  head,  they  came  down 
with  tremendous  force. 

I  must  have  caught  him  somewhere  about  the  head, 
for  it  felt  as  though  I  had  struck  a  board,  and  the  bear 


1 6z  The  Grizzly  Bear 

went  over  backward  with  an  astonished  bawl,  and  when 
he  regained  his  feet,  he  was  tail  toward  me  and  kept  this 
position  as  long  as  I  could  see  him.  The  first  jump  he 
made  landed  him  head  on  against  a  dry-goods  box;  at  the 
next  he  smashed  into  a  tree;  but  he  finally  got  his  bearings 
and  made  off,  if  anything,  faster  than  he  had  come  at  me. 

When  I  had  got  my  bearings,  I  looked  around  for 
my  hat,  but,  being  unable  to  find  it  in  the  half  light,  de- 
cided to  hunt  it  up  in  the  morning.  I  was  not,  at  the 
moment,  conscious  of  very  great  excitement,  but  when  I 
reached  camp  I  found  that  my  hands  were  trembling 
rather  uncomfortably,  and  it  was  several  days  before  I 
recovered  my  usual  absence  of  nerves.  The  next  day, 
when  I  rescued  my  hat,  I  found  two  holes  in  the  soft  brim 
through  which  the  bear  had  driven  his  claws,  and  one 
corner  of  my  iron  battery  case  was  broken  open  like  a 
ship's  bow  after  a  collision. 

I  am  quite  satisfied  that  had  I  made  any  noise  as  I 
approached  the  place  where  the  bears  had  been  feeding, 
they  would  have  retreated  before  I  reached  them;  but  the 
ground  was  soft  and  my  steps  were  noiseless.  And,  hun- 
gry as  they  doubtless  were,  one  of  them  resented  my 
sudden  interruption  of  their  feast. 

Altogether  I  did  not  find  the  grizzlies  of  Yellowstone 
Park  in  any  degree  more  tame  or  less  cunning  than  they 
are  to-day,  for  example,  in  the  Selkirks.  Many  of  them, 
it  is  true,  come  to  the  garbage  piles  to  feed,  but  these  very 
bears,  fifty  yards  back  in  the  timber,  are  again  as  wild  as 
any  of  them  anywhere.  I  was  both  surprised  and  inter- 
ested by  this,  and,  after  watching  them  carefully  from  the 
positions  provided  for  the  public,  I  repeatedly  concealed 


A  Photographic  Expedition  163 

myself  and  watched  them  from  the  woods  back  of  these 
feeding  grounds.  I  can  think  of  no  better  way  to  describe 
their  actions  and  their  attitudes  than  to  liken  them  to  the 
actions  and  attitudes  of  a  man  about  to  dive  into  the 
water.  At  the  canon,  the  garbage  pile  is  in  a  hollow  at 
the  foot  of  rather  a  steep  incline  that  leads  up  to  the  edge 
of  the  woods.  Bear  after  bear  coming  down  the  trails 
that  converge  toward  this  point  will  stop  as  he  reaches  the 
brink  of  this  declivity,  glance  downward,  turn  his  head 
from  side  to  side,  and  launch  himself  downhill,  with  the 
same  air  of  committing  himself  to  a  foreign  element  that 
one  sees  in  the  upward  glance  and  deep  breath  of  a  man 
launching  himself  from  a  diving-board.  On  their  return, 
they  invariably  halted  for  a  few  seconds  at  the  top  of  the 
hill,  looked  around,  occasionally  shook  themselves,  and 
with  their  first  step  up  the  familiar  trail,  resumed  every 
sign  of  their  habitual  caution  and  alertness.  While  on  the 
garbage  pile  itself  they  appear  to  pay  scant  attention  to 
the  people  gathered  behind  the  fairly  distant  wire  fence, 
but  even  there,  an  eye  familiar  with  their  actions  would 
note  the  constant  watch  they  kept  on  what  was  going  on 
and  the  hurried  way  in  which  they  fed;  and,  fifty  feet 
from  the  edge  of  the  surrounding  timber,  they  would,  at 
the  least  scent  or  sound  or  sight,  bolt  as  incontinently  as 
in  the  farthest  hills.  Grizzlies  are  no  more  plentiful 
around  the  park  to-day  than  they  were  twenty-five  years 
ago  in  the  Bitter  Roots,  and  a  hundred  yards  from  the 
garbage  pile  they  are  no  different. 


XVII 
FLASH-LIGHTING  GRIZZLIES 

IT  was  over  two  years  before  I  had  another  opportunity 
to  tackle  the  problem  of  flash-lighting  grizzlies,  and  in 
the  meantime  I  had  brought  my  apparatus  to  the  stage, 
not,  indeed,  of  perfection,  but  of  fair  reliability.  I  had  an 
improved  switch,  a  plentiful  supply  of  proper  wire  for 
fuses,  and  two  complete  outfits. 

Affairs  so  shaped  themselves  in  1908  that  I  saw  my 
way  clear  to  spending  the  summer  of  that  year  in  and 
about  the  Yellowstone  National  Park,  and  I  planned  to 
reach  the  ground  early  enough  to  be  on  hand, soon  after 
the  grizzlies  of  Mt.  Washburn  had  come  out  of  winter 
quarters.  But  a  serious  washout  on  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  sidetracked  both  me  and  my  camp  outfit  and 
horses,  and  it  was  well  on  toward  the  end  of  June  when  I 
finally  succeeded  in  reaching  my  field  of  operations. 

I  had  now  about  given  up  all  reliance  on  wires  stretched 
across  the  trails,  or,  indeed,  upon  any  device  looking  to 
inducing  the  bears  to  spring  the  flashes  for  the  taking  of 
their  own  pictures,  and  was  determined  to  lead  the  string 
from  the  switch  to  my  point  of  observation,  and  so  operate 
the  apparatus  myself. 

This,  in  itself,  was  simple  enough,  and  I  could  easily 

164 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  165 

make  out  to  handle  the  business  alone;  but  I  was  anxious 
to  use  two  cameras,  and  thus  not  only  double  the  chances 
of  results  by  covering  two  trails,  but  make  better  use  of 
the  time  before  my  presence  made  the  animals  suspicious 
and  induced  them  to  abandon  for  a  time  their  accustomed 
lines  of  travel.  I  was  therefore  anxious  to  have  the  help 
of  an  interested  and  intelligent  companion. 

This  want,  however,  was  not  easy  to  supply;  and  as 
an  impatient,  or  a  careless,  or  even  a  timid,  assistant  in 
this  kind  of  work  is  far  worse  than  none,  I  had  little  real 
idea  of  trying  the  experiment.  I  happened,  though,  in  the 
interval  between  my  two  expeditions,  to  meet  Mr.  J.  B. 
Kerfoot  of  New  York,  an  amateur  photographer  of  ex- 
perience and  a  lover  of  life  in  the  open;  and  as  he  seemed 
vastly  interested  in  the  casual  accounts  I  gave  him  of  my 
experiments  and  made  some  good  suggestions  in  regard 
to  the  disposal  of  apparatus,  etc.,  I  finally  proposed  that 
he  join  me  in  my  projected  trip,  and  he  fell  in  with  the 
suggestion  with  enthusiasm. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Kerfoot  did  not  have  so  much  as  a 
bowing  acquaintance  with  grizzlies,  and  his  ideas  about 
them  would,  I  think,  have  pretty  fairly  summed  up  the 
misinformation  current  in  the  popular  mind.  But  these 
facts  did  not  bother  me,  and  I  may  take  this  occasion  to 
say  that  he  proved  to  be  a  quick  student  and  a  resourceful 
and  most  helpful  ally.  He  was  not,  however,  able  to  join 
me  until  the  latter  part  of  July. 

Meanwhile,  early  in  that  month,  our  party  reached  the 
canon,  and  I  spent  the  first  evening  of  our  stay  watching 
the  same  trails  and  the  same  little  parklike  bottom  where 
two  years  before  I  had  seen  so  many  bears.  At  that  time 


1 66  The  Grizzly  Bear 

I  had  remarked  upon  the  number  of  females  with  cubsc 
This  time  I  only  saw  one,  and  she  had  but  two  little  ones. 
There  was  also  a  great  falling  off  in  yearlings  and  in  two- 
year-old  bears,  and,  all  told,  there  did  not  seem  to  be 
more  than  eighteen  grizzlies  working  in  the  neighborhood. 
Among  these  was  one  litter  of  three  two-year-olds  who  were 
still  running  together,  but  most  of  the  others  were  old 
bears.  One  of  these  was  a  very  large  old  male,  nearly  as 
broad  as  he  was  long,  and  that  would,  I  should  say,  have 
weighed  close  to  a  thousand  pounds.  The  trails  that  had 
been  continually  used  two  years  before  now  showed  few 
signs  of  travel,  but  the  main  trail  leading  to  and  from 
Mt.  Washburn  showed  that  this  retreat  was  still  the  home 
of  what  grizzlies  remained. 

This  first  night  I  set  both  my  cameras  on  the  same 
trail,  and  while  I  had  arranged  to  spring  the  flash  myself, 
I  had  nevertheless  stretched  wires  across  the  trail  in  the 
hopes  that  the  bears,  stopping  to  examine  them,  might 
give  me  an  opportunity  to  catch  one  standing  on  its  hind 
feet.  I  also  made  a  different  disposition  of  the  flash-pan, 
and  instead  of  placing  it  on  top  of  a  pole  five  or  six  feet 
high,  I  set  it  within  a  foot  of  the  ground,  hemmed  in  on 
all  sides,  except  that  next  to  the  trail,  with  pieces  of  log 
and  branches  from  trees.  I  then  took  up  my  own  position 
some  fifty  yards  to  one  side  in  a  conveniently  located 
tangle  of  down  timber.  Nothing  of  consequence,  however, 
happened  this  first  night,  as,  though  several  bears  appeared 
in  my  neighborhood,  they  seemed  to  sense  that  something 
was  wrong,  and  shied  off  before  they  reached  me. 

The  next  evening  I  replaced  one  camera  on  this  trail, 
and  set  the  other  on  a  well-beaten  path  some  distance  to 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  167 

one  side.  After  some  hours  of  waiting,  the  three  two-year- 
olds  came  down  the  side  trail,  but  stopped  before  reaching 
my  wire.  Two  of  them  then  turned  back,  but  the  third 
apparently  made  up  his  mind  to  avoid  the  danger  by  cir- 
cling it,  and,  as  it  happened,  took  the  side  toward  the 
camera.  As  he  walked  he  kept  his  eyes  upon  the  wire 
where  it  crossed  the  trail,  and  thus  failed  to  notice  that 
it  extended  beyond  the  edge  of  the  path  and  still  blocked 
his  progress.  This  fact  he  discovered  too  late  by  springing 
the  flash,  and  he  was  then  so  near  the  camera  that  his  feet 
do  not  show  upon  the  plate.  The  picture,  however,  gives 
an  excellent  idea  of  the  formation  of  a  grizzly's  head. 

While  I  had  been  watching  the  movements  of  these 
three  bears,  another  old  fellow  had  come  unobserved  down 
a  trail  to  the  left  of  my  other  camera,  and  then  worked 
back  toward  the  main  trail  between  that  camera  and 
myself.  As  the  first  bear  set  off"  the  flash  and  I  rose  from 
my  place  of  concealment,  I  was  startled  by  a  loud  snort 
just  behind  me,  and  saw  a  huge  grizzly  bolt  up  the  trail 
toward  my  second  outfit.  The  fright  of  seeing  me  rise 
from  the  ground  just  in  front  of  him,  together  with  the 
flash  and  the  flight  of  the  other  bears,  had  evidently  driven 
from  his  mind  the  remembrance  of  the  danger  that  he  had 
just  avoided,  and  it  was  not  until  he  had  almost  reached 
my  second  camera  that  he  remembered  for  a  moment 
where  he  was.  His  evident  dilemma  was  most  amusing, 
for  it  was  clear  for  a  second  or  two  that  he  thought  of 
stopping,  and  then  almost  instantly  changed  his  mind  and 
forged  full  speed  ahead. 

I  had  stretched  a  good-sized  wire  across  the  trail, 
hoping  that  the  bears,  when  they  saw  it,  would  stop  and 


1 68  The  Grizzly  Bear 

stand  up  in  the  course  of  their  examination;  and  when  the 
old  fellow  ran  into  this  one  it  failed  to  part,  but  the  stake 
to  which  it  was  fastened  pulled  out  of  the  ground  and, 
bouncing  back,  caught  him  in  the  side  and  completed  his 
demoralization.  As  he  disappeared  in  the  gathering  dark- 
ness he  looked  like  a  big  ball  of  fur  shot  from  a  high- 
power  gun.  I  reproduce  the  picture  of  this  grizzly  be- 
cause it  is  a  good  example  of  many  failures,  and  at  the 
same  time  gives  some  notion  of  how  recklessly  a  frightened 
bear  dashes  away,  unmindful  of  obstructions. 

The  next  night  I  tried  a  new  trail.  This  time  I  set 
both  cameras  on  it,  but  about  fifty  feet  apart,  hoping  that 
the  bears,  frightened  by  one  flash,  would  retreat  and,  as 
they  often  did,  stand  up  to  look  back  in  front  of  the  other 
camera.  I  concealed  myself  in  a  little  thicket  of  pines, 
from  which  I  had  a  good  view  of  both  cameras  and  of  the 
trail  in  both  directions.  And  I  had  only  been  here  a  short 
time  when  I  saw  the  old  grizzly  and  two  cubs  making 
their  way  along  one  of  the  many  trails  which  passed  near 
my  hiding-place.  They  did  not,  however,  come  within 
range  of  my  cameras,  and  I  thought  no  more  about  them. 
It  was  only  a  few  minutes,  however,  before  I  heard  a  snort 
near  my  thicket,  and  a  small  black  bear  raced  by  within  a 
few  feet  of  me  and  went  up  one  of  the  trees  among  which 
I  was  standing.  Peeping  out  to  see  what  had  so  excited 
it  I  caught  sight  of  the  old  grizzly  and  her  cubs  not  more 
than  fifty  feet  away  and  hot  on  its  trail,  and  as  I  had  no 
desire  to  get  mixed  up  in  any  family  quarrels  I  sidestepped 
and  went  up  the  next  tree  to  the  one  occupied  by  my  black 
friend.  The  grizzly,  seeing  this  new  animal  appear  and 
seem  to  take  sides  with  the  black  bear,  stood  on  her  hind 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  169 

feet  and  looked  at  us  for  a  few  seconds,  and  then,  knowing 
that  we  were  beyond  her  reach,  dropped  down  and  made 
off  through  the  timber. 

When  she  was  well  out  of  the  way  I  resumed  my  watch, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  I  saw  my  friends  of  the  other 
evening,  the  three  two-year-olds,  coming  my  way.  Having 
already  had  some  experience  of  their  wariness  I  watched 
each  branch  of  the  trail  with  anxiety  as  they  neared  it,  and 
drew  sighs  of  relief  as  they  passed  these  in  succession.  At 
last  one  of  them  was  just  in  front  of  my  first  camera,  and 
as  he  appeared  to  be  suspicious  of  its  presence,  I  was 
about  to  pull  the  string  when  a  second  one  ranged  along- 
side of  him.  The  third  was  also  coming  on,  but,  being 
some  little  distance  in  the  rear,  I  did  not  dare  to  risk 
waiting  for  him,  and  sprang  the  flash  on  the  two  as  they 
stood,  heads  up,  listening  in  the  stillness.  The  instant  the 
flash  went  off  all  three  darted  back  and  then  stood  up, 
making  a  beautiful  picture;  but  they  were  too  far  away 
to  get  them  with  my  second  camera,  and  they  ran  away 
when  I  emerged  from  the  thicket  to  put  in  a  new  fuse  and 
reset  my  apparatus.  It  was  now  growing  late  and  I  was 
just  thinking  of  giving  up  for  the  night  when  I  saw,  coming 
down  the  trail,  an  old  bear  that  seemed  actually  to  brush 
the  trees  on  both  sides  at  once.  This  was  the  old  male  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  and  before  the  summer  was  over  I 
was  destined  to  see  him  many  times,  to  spring  several 
flashes  on  him,  and  yet  never  to  get  a  perfect  picture  of 
him.  At  the  moment,  however,  I  knew  nothing  of  all  this, 
and  watched  in  breathless  anxiety  as  he  came  slowly  down 
the  trail  with  its  many  branching  paths.  But  he  passed 
them  all,  and  at  last,  one  of  the  largest  grizzlies  I  have 


170  The  Grizzly  Bear 

ever  seen,  he  rounded  a  bend  in  the  trail  and  his  mighty 
strides  brought  him  directly  in  front  of  my  first  camera. 
He  did  not  stop,  and  I  could  not  bring  myself,  for  the 
chance  of  getting  two  shots  at  him,  to  wait  until  he 
reached  the  second  camera.  As  I  pulled  the  string,  the 
enormous  beast  seemed  actually  to  go  up  in  the  air  with 
the  flash.  Then  he  bolted  sideways,  keeping  his  eyes  on 
the  point  from  which  the  flash  had  come,  and,  paying  no 
attention  to  where  he  was  going,  he  crashed  into  a  tree 
with  low-hanging  branches,  and  the  noise  of  the  impact 
filled  the  forest.  Then,  like  the  rest,  he  stood  up  and 
looked  back,  and  then,  still  with  many  backward  glances, 
moved  silently  away. 

For  a  couple  of  nights  now  I  had  no  luck.  The  bears 
seemed  to  have  taken  to  other  trails,  and,  wishing  to  find 
out  in  what  part  of  the  woods  they  were  working,  I  per- 
suaded a  young  doctor  who  was  in  the  party  to  come  out 
with  me  and  tend  one  of  the  cameras.  I  placed  him  and 
his  camera  on  a  likely  looking  trail  and  stationed  myself 
some  hundreds  of  yards  away.  I  stretched  the  wire  across 
the  trail  at  his  post  and  also  ran  a  string  from  the  switch 
to  him,  and  I  instructed  him  to  watch  in  silence  until  a 
bear  should  stop  to  examine  the  wire,  and  then  to  whistle 
sharply,  and,  when  the  bear  stood  up  at  the  sound,  to  pull 
the  string.  In  the  meantime  I  asked  him  to  keep  a  sharp 
lookout  that  he  might  let  me  know  later  by  what  trails  and 
from  what  directions  the  bears  had  come  up. 

The  doctor  had  assured  me  that  he  was  not  in  the 
least  afraid  of  bears,  and  for  the  first  two  hours  he  was  as 
good  as  his  boast.  I  could  watch  him  from  my  station. 
Later  on,  however,  as  the  sun  neared  the  horizon  and  the 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  171 

shadows  became  longer  and  deeper  and  that  hushed  silence 
settled  on  the  woods  that  searches  the  heart  of  the  timid 
in  the  wilderness,  my  friend's  daylight  courage  began  to 
ooze  away.  Any  one  who  has  never  seen  a  grizzly  in  such 
a  setting  is  more  than  likely  to  experience  a  softening  of 
the  bones  when  one  appears,  and  the  doctor  was  no  ex- 
ception to  the  rule.  A  couple  of  young  bears  now  came 
hurrying  down  a  trail  a  hundred  feet  or  so  to  his  right  and, 
swinging  his  arms  in  the  air,  he  gave  a  loud  whistle,  like  a 
policeman  signalling  for  help,  and  called  out  to  me  in  a 
loud  voice,  "There  go  two." 

It  happened  at  the  moment  that  I  was  watching  a 
grizzly  on  my  own  side  of  the  woods,  and  did  not  care  to 
spoil  my  chances  of  a  picture  by  going  over  and  clubbing 
my  friend  into  a  more  quiet  state  of  mind,  so  I  stuck  to  my 
post  and  hoped  for  the  best.  But  before  my  bear  had  had 
a  chance  to  get  within  range  the  doctor's  whistle  again 
rang  out,  and  once  more  the  information  was  bawled 
through  the  woods  that  "There  go  three  more  down  the 
same  trail!"  This  sent  my  grizzly  back  into  the  woods 
at  double-quick  and,  making  up  my  mind  that  that  kind 
of  help  was  too  much  of  a  hinderance  for  my  taste,  I  took 
up  both  cameras,  gave  the  doctor  my  professional  opinion 
of  him  as  a  grizzly  photographer,  and  went  back  to  camp. 

After  the  doctor's  retirement  another  volunteer  pre- 
sented himself  in  the  person  of  Frank,  one  of  my  camp 
assistants,  a  man  who  had  lived  much  of  his  life  in  the 
mountains  and  who  said  he  was  not  afraid  of  any  bear 
that  might  show  itself.  So  I  took  him  along  and  set  him 
to  watch  over  the  second  camera,  with  the  same  instruc- 
tions as  those  issued  to  the  doctor,  and  stationed  myself 


172  The  Grizzly  Bear 

some  fifty  yards  away,  accompanied  by  a  young  friend 
who  wanted  to  see  the  bear  and  promised  to  keep  still. 
Frank  was  seated  on  a  fallen  tree,  peering  through  the 
upturned  roots  at  one  end.  Another  tree,  some  fifteen  feet 
behind  him,  lay  across  the  one  on  which  he  was  seated. 
He  was  lazily  fighting  mosquitoes  with  a  small  switch, 
and  his  whole  attitude  spoke  of  phlegmatic  and  easy 
attention  to  business. 

For  perhaps  two  hours  nothing  happened,  and  we-all 
three  remained  at  our  posts.  Then  the  young  man  at  my 
side  whispered  to  me  that  there  was  a  large  brown  bear 
some  twenty-five  yards  in  our  rear,  and  as  I  turned  to 
look,  I  saw  the  huge  grizzly  that  I  had  taken  a  snap  at  a 
few  nights  before  sneaking  up  behind  Frank  with  extended 
nose  and  every  appearance  of  puzzled  curiosity.  Frank 
was  still  gazing  between  the  roots  at  his  camera  and  lazily 
swaying  his  switch,  and,  knowing  that  the  big  grizzly  was 
aware  of  his  presence  and  only  trying  to  satisfy  his  curiosity, 
I  made  no  sign.  When  the  bear  reached  the  dead  tree 
that  lay  at  right  angles  to  Frank's  seat,  he  placed  his  fore- 
paws  on  it,  stretched  his  head  out,  and  began  to  sniff- 
well,  out  loud. 

Frank  turned  around  casually  at  the  sound,  and  for  a 
hundredth  of  a  second  there  was  a  tableau  that  I  would 
have  given  a  good  deal  for  a  picture  of.  Then  Frank's 
switch  began  a  frantic  tattoo  on  the  nearest  root.  Frank 
himself  leaped  to  his  feet  and  the  fat  old  grizzly  shot  away 
sideways — as  luck  would  have  it — in  our  direction.  His 
first  two  or  three  jumps  covered  more  than  half  the  dis- 
tance between  us,  and,  as  it  began  to  look  as  though  we 
would  be  trampled,  we  also  jumped  up,  when,  with  a  loud 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  173 

< 

snort,  the  old  fellow  again  changed  his  direction  and  made 
off  puffing  and  blowing.  Frank  allowed  after  that  that, 
although  he  was  not  afraid  of  bears,  he  would  just  as  soon 
not  have  anything  to  do  with  any  animal  of  that  size  that 
could  get  up  near  enough  to  smell  the  back  of  his  neck 
without  his  hearing  them  come.  So  for  the  few  remaining 
nights  of  our  stay  I  went  it  alone. 

However,  the  bears  were  by  now  becoming  very 
crafty,  and  it  was  so  difficult  to  tell  to  what  unused  trail 
they  were  resorting  that  I  got  but  few  shots.  On  one 
occasion,  however,  I  secured  a  picture  which,  though  not 
in  perfect  focus,  illustrates  very  clearly  one  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  these  animals.  Two  good-sized  grizzlies  were 
coming  down  a  winding  trail  on  which  I  had  posted  my- 
self, and  the  larger  of  the  two,  happening  to  notice  my 
apparatus  before  he  reached  it,  turned  out  of  the  trail  and 
approached  the  camera  with  a  curiosity  that  looked  suffi- 
ciently like  ferociousness  to  disturb  any  one  not  familiar 
with  the  creature's  habits.  Finally,  just  as  he  paused  with 
one  foot  raised  and  his  nose  extended,  I  sprang  the  flash,  and 
he  almost  broke  his  neck  in  his  haste  to  get  away.  The  next 
day  we  moved  camp  to  the  shores  of  Yellowstone  Lake. 

Here,  in  order  to  be  nearer  my  field  of  operations,  I 
separated  temporarily  from  the  rest  of  the  party  and  made 
a  small  camp  near  the  bear  ranges,  and  for  two  nights 
worked  on  my  old  grounds  of  two  years  before.  Here, 
too,  the  number  of  bears  had  greatly  decreased,  and  the 
only  animals  of  any  marked  interest  seemed  to  be  a  mother 
and  three  cubs.  On  my  return  to  camp  the  second  evening 
I  found  Kerfoot  waiting  for  me,  and  the  next  day  I  took 
him  with  me  for  a  general  survey  of  the  ground. 


174  The  Grizzly  Bear 

We  determined,  after  a  pretty  thorough  discussion  of 
the  matter,  to  devote  ourselves  to  securing  a  picture  of 
this  grizzly  mother  and  her  family;  and  as,  after  my  ex- 
perience with  my  volunteer  helpers  the  week  before,  I  did 
not  propose  to  try  any  more  amateurs  without  having  them 
serve  an  apprenticeship,  I  only  took  one  camera  out  the 
next  night.  We  set  that  on  the  trail  the  she  grizzly  had 
been  using,  and  stretched  a  fish-line  to  our  hiding-place 
about  a  hundred  feet  away.  We  placed  no  wire  across  the 
trail,  and  from  this  time  forward  never  again  used  that 
device. 

The  old  lady  and  her  youngsters  proved  to  be  on  time, 
and  just  about  seven  o'clock  I  caught  sight  of  them  in  an 
open  glade  to  our  left.  It  was  my  first  near  view  of  her, 
and  I  saw  at  once  that  she  was  as  cross-grained  and.  ugly 
a  brute  as  one  was  likely  to  meet  in  a  lifetime.  I  in- 
stantly decided  that  two  hundred  feet  was  none  too  much 
space  to  interpose  between  her  and  the  man  who  proposed 
to  challenge  her  with  a  flash,  and,  whispering  to  Kerfoot 
to  come  quietly,  we  backed  away,  unrolling  the  fish-line 
as  we  went,  until  we  came  to  the  end  of  it.  The  mother 
was  an  old  bald-face;  one  of  the  cubs  was  almost  black, 
one  was  gray,  and  the  third  had  a  silvery  sheen  to  its  fur. 
The  whole  family  came  on,  the  mother  looking  neither  to 
the  right  nor  left  and  paying  little  attention  to  the  cubs 
that  ran,  now  ahead  and  now  behind  her.  She  did  not 
seem  to  suspect  the  presence  of  the  camera,  and  when  she 
and  two  of  the  cubs  were  opposite  the  lens  I  pulled  the 
string.  The  flash,  however,  refused  to  explode,  and  when 
I  pulled  again,  to  my  utter  disgust  the  string  broke.  It 
proved  to  have  become  entangled  with  an  intervening 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  175 

branch,  probably  during  our  retreat,  and  the  incident, 
costly  as  it  was,  taught  us  a  lesson  that  we  never  forgot. 
Indeed,  from  this  time  on  we  almost  invariably  handled 
our  cameras  from  the  branches  of  some  convenient  tree, 
thus  guarding  against  any  necessity  of  changing  our 
positions  unexpectedly,  and  we  took  great  care  and  con- 
siderable pains  in  so  running  our  strings  that  they  were 
sure  to  work  smoothly  when  needed.  We  got  no  other 
shot  this  night,  and  returned  to  camp,  feeling  that  we  had 
lost  the  chance  of  our  lives. 

The  next  night  we  again  went  after  this  old  bear,  but 
she  did  not  put  in  an  appearance;  and  the  third  night, 
feeling  that  Kerfoot  was  now  able  to  handle  that  part  of 
it  himself,  I  left  him  in  charge  of  the  flash-light  apparatus, 
and  stationed  myself,  with  a  natural-history  camera,  in  a 
tree  by  the  little  open  glade  where  we  had  first  seen  the 
old  bear  and  her  cubs. 

About  seven  o'clock  she  made  her  appearance,  but, 
instead  of  going  on  down  the  trail  toward  where  Kerfoot 
was  waiting  for  her,  she  and  the  cubs  stopped  to  dig  roots 
at  the  side  of  a  small  marsh.  I  now  understood  why  we 
had  not  seen  her  the  night  before,  and  while  she  offered 
me  several  opportunities  for  long-distance  shots  with  my 
hand  camera,  I  refrained  from  risking  them  in  hopes  that 
she  would  ultimately  move  on  in  the  right  direction. 

It  was  just  beginning  to  get  dark  when  I  saw  a  medium- 
sized  bear  come  up  the  trail  from  the  direction  of  the  flash 
camera,  and  when  the  she  grizzly  saw  him  she  called  her 
cubs  and  retreated  into  the  woods.  I  was  at  a  loss  to 
explain  this,  as  she  was  larger  than  he,  but  the  sequel  led 
me  to  believe  that  she  had  mistaken  him  for  a  much  larger 


176  The  Grizzly  Bear 

bear  occasionally  seen  in  the  neighborhood.  At  any  rate, 
she  reappeared  in  a  few  minutes,  took  a  good  look  at  the 
bear  that  was  now  sampling  the  roots  that  she  had  been 
digging  up,  and  then,  with  a  snort,  took  after  him  and 
chased  him  clear  out  of  sight.  She  then  returned,  grunted 
to  the  cubs,  and  stalked  off  down  the  trail,  looking  as 
though  she  was  mad  as  a  hornet. 

She  had  hardly  disappeared  from  sight  when  the  whole 
woods  was  lighted  up  by  a  flash,  and  this  was  followed  by 
a  roar  that  fairly  made  the  trees  shake.  About  ten  sec- 
onds later  the  roar  was  repeated,  and  when  I  thought  of 
my  tenderfoot  apprentice  perched  in  his  tree,  I  could  not 
help  laughing  over  the  initiation  he  was  getting  in  the  art 
of  photographing  grizzlies. 

A  little  later  on,  when  I  went  to  join  him,  I  found  him 
packing  up  the  apparatus,  but  casting  nervous  glances 
over  his  shoulders  the  while,  and  the  next  day,  when  we 
developed  the  plate,  I  told  him  that  I  guessed  he'd  do. 
We  worked  two  more  nights  in  these  hills,  but  got  no  other 
shots  at  any  bears. 

We  now  spent  some  weeks  camping  on  Shoshone  Lake, 
in  the  Snake  River  country  near  Jackson's  Hole,  and 
along  the  Firehole  River,  and  while  in  this  neighborhood 
spent  three  evenings  in  the  hills  near  the  lower  geyser 
basin.  We  had  found  few  signs  of  grizzlies  in  this  place, 
although  black  bears  seemed  to  be  plentiful;  but  one  trail, 
that  led  straight  up  the  wooded  hillside  to  the  plateau  six 
or  eight  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  basin,  was 
evidently  used  by  them. 

We  followed  this  trail  for  some  miles,  hoping  to  find 
the  daylight  retreats  of  the  grizzlies  that  used  it;  but 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  177 

when  we  turned  back  it  was  still  stretching  away  like  a 
boulevard  in  the  direction  of  the  lake. 

We  had  seen  a  group  of  four  really  magnificent  grizzlies, 
apparently  three-year-olds,  come  out  of  these  woods  the 
first  evening  of  our  stop,  and  were  more  than  anxious  to 
get  a  picture  of  them;  but  though  we  spent  two  long 
evenings  beside  the  big  trail  we  never  laid  eyes  on  them 
again.  The  first  of  these  evenings  it  was  raining  hard, 
and  we  had  covered  our  cameras  and  had  turned  down 
the  hinged  tops  of  our  flash-pans,  and  were  huddled  under 
such  shelter  as  we  could  find,  when  a  red  squirrel  ran  up 
the  tree  to  which  our  switch  was  nailed  and  sprang  the 
flash.  There  was  an  explosion  that  was  heard  two  miles 
away  at  our  camp,  and  we  were  at  a  loss  to  determine 
whether  it  was  caused  by  the  hinge  of  the  flash-pan  top 
having  rusted,  and  so  confined  the  charge,  or  whether 
some  new  powder  we  were  using  for  the  first  time  was  un- 
reliable. The  next  week  we  learned  that  it  was  the  latter. 

On  the  last  day  of  August,  having  left  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  party  at  Gardner,  Mr.  Kerfoot,  Frank,  and 
myself  started  back  for  a  week's  final  photographing  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  canon.  There  had,  meanwhile, 
been  a  heavy  storm;  the  mountains  were  white  with  snow, 
and  the  air  was  clear  and  wintry.  We  reached  our  des- 
tination and  made  camp  by  two  o'clock  on  the  first  of 
September,  and  Kerfoot  and  I  climbed  to  the  scenes  of  my 
earlier  efforts  and  made  a  hasty  survey  of  the  region  now 
so  familiar  to  me.  It  was  already  late,  and,  as  we  had  no 
time  to  seek  out  new  locations,  I  placed  my  camera  near 
the  point  where  I  had  been  treed  by  the  old  bear  and  cubs, 
and  where  I  had  secured  some  of  my  earlier  pictures, 


178  The  Grizzly  Bear 

while  Kerfoot  placed  his  apparatus  at  the  intersection  of 
two  more  travelled  trails. 

We  found  that  while  the  same  bears  were  to  be  met 
with  as  earlier  in  the  season,  they  were,  while  fatter  and 
sleeker  of  coat,  more  cautious  than  before,  and  it  was  all 
but  impossible  to  so  place  and  hide  our  apparatus  that 
they  would  not  detect  it. 

This  first  night  I  secured  the  two  pictures  that  I  have 
called  "Grizzlies  Feeding"  and  "A  Grizzly  Walking  Out 
of  the  Woods";  but  it  turned  out  that  Kerfoot  had  had  a 
disheartening  time  of  it,  and,  while  many  bears  had  come 
his  way,  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  wind  about  sun- 
set had  wafted  the  scent  of  his  apparatus  up  the  trail  and 
warned  the  approaching  animals  of  his  presence.  And 
for  several  nights  thereafter  we  had  little  success. 

Kerfoot  by  this  time  had  become  both  enthusiastic  and 
expert,  and,  as  the  weather  was  fine,  the  moon  at  the  full, 
and  our  last  days  slipping  away,  we  stayed  late  in  our 
trees  and  did  not  give  up  till  the  bears  themselves  retired. 
We  sometimes  worked  as  much  as  a  mile  apart  and,  to  the 
best  of  our  skill  and  ability,  covered  the  whole  range. 
But  though  we  had  to  make  our  way  home  through  the 
dense  forest  that  we  knew  contained  many  large  grizzlies, 
none  offered  to  molest  us  as  long  as  we  were  moving 
openly  and  with  some  noise  through  the  woods. 

One  evening,  however,  I  had  set  my  camera  beside  a 
well-worn  trail  that  ran  along  the  marshy  bottom  of  a 
valley,  and  I  had  led  the  string  to  a  big  tree  well  up  the 
steep  hillside,  whose  three  trunks  offered  me  an  ideal 
screen  and  peep-hole.  I  was  working  on  the  ground  this 
night,  and  just  back  of  me  and  my  tree  there  ran  a  faint 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  179 

and  little-used  trail.  I  had  been  on  watch  for  some  hours 
and  had  not  seen  a  sign  of  any  bears  when,  hearing  the 
sharp  panting  sound  that,  unlike  the  black  bear,  the 
grizzly  always  makes  when  excited  and  running,  I  turned 
sharply  round  and  saw  a  bear  coming  full  tilt  up  the  dis- 
used trail  and  within  a  few  feet  of  me.  I  instantly  dodged 
around  my  tree,  broke  a  dead  limb  to  make  a  noise,  and 
let  out  a  "whoof!"  to  scare  the  bear.  Then,  as  he  passed, 
I  stepped  out  again  and  almost  faced  a  second  grizzly 
that  was  following  him.  I  dodged  again,  and  as  this  one 
passed  me  he  raised  one  paw  as  if  to  strike,  but  he  did  not 
pause,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight. 

What  had  startled  them  I  do  not  know,  but  they  were 
evidently  bent  on  getting  away  from  something  and  did 
not  propose  to  have  their  retreat  cut  off.  As  for  myself,  I 
felt  that  I  had  had  enough  grizzlies  for  one  night,  and 
pulled  out  for  camp  as  soon  as  I  could  get  my  things 
packed  up. 

The  next  night,  while  working  in  quite  another  part  of 
the  hills,  I  got  a  splendid  picture  of  these  two  bears,  fine 
fellows  in  the  pink  of  condition,  and  this  time  they  showed 
no  desire  to  resent  my  presence,  even  standing  up  at  a  dis- 
tance of  fifty  yards  or  so  and  looking  at  me  while  I  reset 
my  camera. 

But  if  the  park  bears,  like  all  others  I  have  ever  known, 
showed  no  disposition  to  molest  us  unless  interfered  with, 
there  were  individuals  among  them  that  paid  no  respect 
to  our  camp.  Early  in  the  summer  we  had  been  much  put 
to  it  to  protect  our  cook  tent  from  them,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion one  of  the  men  had  even  driven  the  point  of  a  pros- 
pector's hammer,  through  the  tent  and  into  a  bear's 


180  The  Grizzly  Bear 

nose.  And  on  this  second  visit  we  fared  even  worse, 
until  we  hit  upon  the  expedient  of  setting  our  flash-pans 
just  outside  the  canvas  walls  at  night,  and  baiting  them  so 
that  thieving  bears  would  set  off  a  small  pinch  of  powder 
in  their  own  faces.  One  night  four  grizzlies  visited  us  in 
succession,  but  by  this  device  we  were  spared  a  repetition 
of  our  first  night's  experience,  when  our  camp  arrange- 
ments were  literally  wrecked  and  the  inside  of  our  tent  in 
the  morning  looked  like  a  hurrah's  nest. 

One  of  our  keenest  desires  was  to  get  a  good  picture 
of  the  big  bear  that  I  had  already  taken  once,  and  that  had 
frightened  Frank  the  night  he  went  out  to  help  me. 
Kerfoot  had  got  one  shot  at  him,  but  the  powder  burned 
so  badly  that  the  bear  had  time  to  move  his  head  clear 
across  the  plate.  This  animal,  the  undisputed  lord  of  the 
range,  was  always  the  last  one  to  appear,  and  now  that  it 
was  drawing  toward  fall  it  was  very  dark  when  he  came 
out.  The  night  after  I  had  photographed  the  two  bears 
last  mentioned  we  had  determined  to  place  both  cameras 
upon  the  main  trail  from  Mt.  Washburn,  hoping  to  get 
a  shot  at  this  old  fellow,  and  determined,  if  necessary, 
to  spend  the  night  in  our  trees.  I  was  stationed  near  the 
foot-hills,  and  Kerfoot  about  a  mile  farther  down,  and  we 
hoped  if  one  missed  the  bear  that  the  other  would  be  more 
fortunate.  We  had  contrived  our  seats  in  the  afternoon, 
and  mine  was  high  among  the  branches  of  a  clump  of  firs 
that  screened  me  completely  from  the  trail,  but  left  me  a 
small  hole  through  which  to  keep  watch. 

For  several  hours  nothing  appeared,  and  finally  it  be- 
came all  but  impossible  to  see  except  where  the  moon 
cast  a  stray  beam  of  light  among  the  shadows.  Then,  at 


Flash-Lighting  Grizzlies  181 

last,  in  one  of  these  light  spots,  I  saw  a  dark  shape  that 
could  only  be  the  big  bear  I  wanted.  If  he  passed  the 
next  lighted  space  and  kept  on  into  the  farther  shadow  he 
would  be  in  range  of  my  camera.  So,  to  be  ready  for  him, 
I  reached  for  the  string  that  I  could  no  longer  see,  and  I 
suppose  in  doing  so  must  have  made  some  slight  sound. 
At  any  rate,  the  bear  did  not  enter  the  second  lighted 
space,  and  a  few  moments  later  I  saw  him  pass  across  a 
moonlit  park,  three  hundred  feet  or  so  to  the  left  of  my 
camera.  Slight  as  was  my  movement,  he  had  either 
heard  or  seen  it,  and  veered  off. 

And  a  mile  down  the  trail  Kerfoot,  a  little  later,  had 
the  same  experience.  He  caught  sight  of  the  big  fellow 
just  as  he  reached  the  camera,  and  in  reaching  for  the 
string  touched  a  branch,  and  the  big  bear  shied  instantly 
and  circled  out  of  range.  The  same  night,  and  just  before 
the  big  bear  came  along,  Kerfoot,  by  guessing  at  the  posi- 
tion of  the  animals  that  he  could  not  see  in  the  darkness, 
sprang  a  flash  on  two  bears,  whose  picture  I  have  called 
"Three-Year-Olds." 

It  was  not  till  the  last  night  of  all  that  I  got  another 
chance  at  the  big  fellow.  Early  on  this  evening  I  had 
flashed  a  pair  of  young  bears,  and  the  powder,  which  had 
been  acting  badly  throughout  our  stay,  again  exploded 
instead  of  burning,  and  bent  my  flash-pan  quite  out  of 
shape.  I  had  repaired  the  damage  as  best  I  could,  and 
had  reset  my  apparatus  when,  about  nine  o'clock,  my  big 
friend  came  along.  He  was  just  passing  a  small  fir-tree 
when  I  pulled  the  string,  and  it  seemed  to  me,  and  I  dare 
say  to  him,  as  though  the  end  of  the  world  had  come. 
The  flash  exploded  with  a  noise  like  a  twelve-inch  gun, 


182  The  Grizzly  Bear 

and  a  shower  of  burning  particles  rose  in  the  air  and 
glowed  for  more  than  a  second. 

When  we  developed  the  plate  we  found  that  the  old 
bear  had  backed  up  against  the  tree  and,  with  bared  teeth 
and  savage  mien,  had  faced  the  unexpected  danger.  The 
picture  was  far  from  perfect,  but  it  gives  a  notion  of  his 
splendid  proportions  and  of  his  savage  courage.  I  have 
called  it  "At  Bay." 

And  so  ended  our  summer's  work.  We  brought  away 
a  thousand  memories  and  about  a  dozen  flash-light  photo- 
graphs. 


PART  III 

CHARACTER   AND   HABITS   OF   THE 
GRIZZLY 


XVIII 
DESCRIPTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

AS  we  have  seen  in  the  classification  of  bears,  science 
recognizes,  besides  the  Rocky  Mountain  grizzly 
(JJrsus  Horribilis  Ord)  and  the  very  distinct  Barren 
Ground  grizzly  (Ursus  Richardsoni  Mayne  Reid),  two 
sub-species  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  type — the  Sonora 
grizzly  (Ursus  Horribilis  Horriaus  Baird)  and  the  Nor- 
ton Sound  grizzly. 

Taken  together,  these  animals  range  from  the  moun- 
tains in  southern  Mexico,  throughout  the  Sierras  and  the 
Rockies,  all  the  way  to  the  Barren  Grounds;  but  Ursus 
Horribilis  Ord,  the  true  grizzly  bear  in  the  sense  that  it 
was  the  species  first  recognized  by  science,  has  a  more 
wide-spread  geographical  distribution  than  any  of  the 
others.  While  its  type  locality  is,  of  course,  Montana, 
where  it  was  first  discovered,  its  proper  range  extends 
from  Wyoming  and  northern  Utah,  throughout  the  Rocky 
Mountain  chain,  to  Norton  Sound,  Alaska;  and  neither  in 
Montana,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  nor  in  the  interior  of  British 
Columbia  south  of  the  Barren  Grounds,  is  any  other 
species  to  be  encountered.  On  the  other  hand  Horribilis^ 
Ord  wanders,  to  a  considerable  extent,  into  the  domains 
of  other  grizzlies. 

185 


1 86  The  Grizzly  Bear 

I  wish  once  more  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that, 
throughout  the  following  chapters,  the  term  "grizzly 
bear,"  when  unqualified,  refers  to  the  Rocky  Mountain 
grizzly,  Ursus  Horribilis  Ord. 

This  bear  is  generally  considered  by  scientists  to  be 
somewhat  smaller  than  the  Sonora  grizzly,  also  smaller 
than  the  Norton  Sound  grizzly,  but  rather  larger  than 
the  Barren  Ground  grizzly.  He  is  described  as  having 
hairs  elongated  over  the  shoulders  so  as  to  give  almost 
the  effect  of  a  hump;  and  this  collar,  or  "roach,"  while 
typical  of  the  species,  varies  greatly  in  development  in 
individuals,  so  that  one  sometimes  sees  a  grizzly  with 
no  noticeable  ruff,  and  again  sees  specimens  with  this 
feature  so  marked  that  the  old  hunters  claim  "the  roach- 
back"  to  be  a  distinct  variety. 

The  grizzly  is  also  described  as  having  larger  fore 
claws  than  any  other  species,  and  these  of  a  whitish  color 
and  nearly  straight.  This  last  distinction  will  not,  how- 
ever, judging  from  my  own  observations,  apply  to  the 
species  as  a  whole.  I  have  seen  many  hundreds  of  these 
animals,  and,  while  the  claws  of  some  are  white,  as  de- 
scribed, I  should  say  that  a  majority  of  them  have  dark 
nails,  and  these  rather  curved  than  otherwise.  Of  course, 
as  to  this,  it  makes  a  great  difference  whether  the  bear  is 
examined  in  the  early  spring  when  his  claws  are  fresh- 
grown,  or  in  the  late  fall  when  they  are  worn  with  much 
use.  The  accompanying  illustration  will  give  a  better  idea 
than  any  description.  These  powerful  claws  are,  when 
not  worn  down  by  use,  from  four  to  six  inches  in  length; 
they  are  narrower  at  the  base  in  comparison  to  their 
length  than  those  of  other  bears,  and  do  not  curve  sharply 


Description  and  Distribution  187 

downward  and  backward  as  do  those  of  the  black  bear; 
nor  are  they  so  sharply  pointed.  But,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  photograph,  they  cannot  be  justly  spoken  of  as 
"nearly  straight." 

The  hind  paws  of  all  bears  differ  from  their  front  paws 
more  radically  than  those  of  most  quadrupeds,  and  while 
those  of  the  grizzly  do  not  differ  from  those  of  other  bears 
as  markedly  as  do  their  fore  paws,  they  are  none  the  less 
easily  distinguished.  The  tracks  left  in  snow  or  mud  or 
dust  by  these  hind  paws  bear  an  uncanny  resemblance  to 
the  mark  of  a  human  foot,  and  it  is  to  this  the  animal  owes 
its  nicknames  of  "Old  Ephraim"  and  "Moccasin  Joe." 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  of  interest  to  note,  by  means  of 
reference  to  the  accompanying  photographs,  the  more 
salient  and  easily  recognized  differences  in  the  tracks  of 
the  black  and  the  grizzly  bear,  these  animals  being  fre- 
quently met  with  in  the  same  regions.  On  the  fore  paw 
of  the  black  bear  the  pad  is  quite  round  at  the  front,  and 
slightly  convex  at  the  rear.  It  does  not  have  the  in- 
dentation found  on  the  inside  of  the  grizzly's  front  foot, 
and  is,  roughly  speaking,  somewhat  kidney-shaped.  The 
outer  side  of  the  pad  is  also  much  narrower  than  that  of 
the  grizzly.  The  claws  are  not  so  long  and  are  different 
in  shape,  curving  much  more  at  or  near  the  point,  and 
they  are  proportionately  broader  at  the  base,  growing 
more  like  the  claws  of  the  cat.  The  foot  is  also  much 
thinner.  Both  the  front  and  hind  feet  have  greater  mus- 
cles, presumably  developed  by  climbing.  The  black  bear 
does  not  do  so  much  digging  as  the  grizzly,  and  therefore 
does  not  wear  his  claws  down  so  short  in  proportion  to 
their  length  as  does  the  latter.  To  be  sure,  he  turns  over 


1 88  The  Grizzly  Bear 

logs  and  rocks  much  as  the  grizzly  does,  but  he  uses  his 
entire  paw  for  this  purpose,  whereas  the  grizzly  will  often 
use  a  single  claw,  almost  as  though  it  were  a  finger.  The 
black  bear  is  an  agile  climber,  and,  at  times,  when  forced 
to  climb  against  his  will,  will  cling  to  the  trunk  of  a  tree  and 
circle  it  like  a  squirrel  to  keep  out  of  sight  of  the  hunter. 

On  the  grizzly's  front  paw  the  pad  is  only  slightly 
rounded  out  in  front,  while  in  the  rear  it  is  convex  instead 
of  concave,  as  in  the  case  of  the  black  bear.  It  also  shows 
a  decided  indentation  just  back  of  the  big  toe,  and  the 
marks  left  on  the  ground  by  the  long  curved  claws  are  at  a 
distance  of  two  or  three  inches  from  the  ends  of  the  toes. 
These  claws  are  not  at  all  adapted  to  tree  climbing,  as 
will  be  seen  at  a  glance,  but  are  used  for  digging  roots, 
turning  over  logs  and  rocks,  and  are  invaluable  for  fight- 
ing. These  claws  vary  in  color;  sometimes  they  are 
striped,  sometimes  white,  and  sometimes  almost  black. 
The  three  middle  ones  are  much  longer  than  the  two  out- 
side ones. 

There  are  also  distinct  differences  in  the  hind  feet  of 
these  two  animals.  One  salient  characteristic  of  the 
grizzly's  hind  foot  is  a  protuberance  on  the  outside  of  the 
pad  just  back  of  the  little  toe.  This  is  not  found  on  the 
hind  foot  of  the  black  bear;  but  the  latter  has,  on  the  other 
hand,  two  small  protuberances  on  the  inside  of  the  pad, 
one  near  the  big  toe  and  one  near  the  heel.  In  some  cases 
these  are  more  noticeable  than  in  others,  but  their  im- 
pressions are  always  to  be  found.  Another  noticeable 
difference  lies  in  the  shape  of  the  heels.  That  of  the 
grizzly  is  sharply  pointed,  and  if  a  line  be  drawn  from  the 
middle  toe  along  the  axis  of  the  foot,  the  point  of  the  heel 


1.  HIND   FOOT   OF    A   BLACK    BEAR 

2.  HIND   TRACK   OF   A   BLACK   BEAR 

Size,  8x4  inches. 


3.  HIND    FOOT    OF    A    GRIZZLY   BEAR 

4.  HIND   TRACK    OF    A    GRIZZLY  BEAR 

Size,  10  x  5^  inches. 


Description  and  Distribution  189 

will  be  found  to  lie  to  one  side  of  it.  The  heel  of  the  black 
bear  is  blunt  and  rounded,  and  a  line  from  the  middle  of 
the  toe  along  the  axis  of  the  foot  will  exactly  strike  the 
point  of  the  heel.  Again,  in  the  grizzly's  hind  foot  the 
front  line  of  the  pad  next  to  the  toes  is  but  slightly  curved, 
while  in  the  case  of  the  black  bear  it  is  rather  strikingly 
rounded  out.  The  hind  foot  of  the  grizzly  is  also  much 
slenderer  than  that  of  the  black  bear. 

In  comparison  with  the  black  bear,  the  grizzlies  are 
longer  of  body  and  straighter  along  the  back,  and  do  not 
show  the  same  marked  hump  over  the  haunches.  They 
are  narrower  in  the  forehead,  their  jaws  are  longer,  and 
their  muzzles  much  less  tapering.  This  latter  characteristic 
is  very  marked,  and  appears  even  in  old  bears  that  have 
grown  fat.  Several  of  the  flash-light  pictures  reproduced 
in  this  volume  show  this  square  muzzle  excellently.  The 
grizzly's  fore  legs  also  differ  greatly  in  build  from  those  of 
the  black  bear,  being  smaller  in  the  ankle  and  marked  by 
a  heavy  and  symmetrical  development  of  muscle. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  species,  also  found  in  varying 
degrees  in  the  allied  group  of  the  Alaskan  brown  bears,  is 
the  great  length  of  the  third  incisor  tooth  on  each  side  of 
the  upper  jaw.  This  almost  gives  the  grizzly  the  appear- 
ance of  having  four  upper  canines,  and  the  lower  canines, 
fitting  in  between  these  upper  teeth,  give  him  a  peculiarly 
formidable  armament. 

The  color  of  the  grizzly  bear  has  given  rise  to  much  dis- 
cussion. This  is  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  implication  in 
the  common  name  of  the  animal,  and  partly  to  the  unusual 
and  apparently  endless  variability  of  the  species  in  this 
respect. 


190  The  Grizzly  Bear 

That  Lewis  and  Clark  found  striking  differences  in 
color  among  these  bears  is,  as  we  have  seen,  amply  attested 
by  their  journals.  They  not  only  refer  to  them  in  varying 
terms  as  the  "grizzly,"  "gray,"  "white,"  "brown,"  and 
"variegated"  bear,  but  put  down  at  some  length  their  own 
conclusions  and  the  opinions  of  the  Indians  in  regard  to  the 
bearing  of  these  color  variations  upon  species.  Nor  in  this 
respect  is  there  any  difference  between  their  day  and  ours. 

I  have  seen  grizzlies  in  all  shades  of  color,  ranging 
from  almost  jet  black,  through  the  browns  and  creams,  to 
practically  snow  white;  and  it  is,  indeed,  rarely  that  one 
finds  two  of  exactly  the  same  color.  It  may  be  well,  at 
this  point,  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  word 
"white"  with  reference  to  the  grizzly  bear.  The  word  is 
not  used  in  a  spectroscopic  sense,  but  exactly  as  we  use  it 
when  we  say  that  a  man  has  white  hair.  If  it  be  permis- 
sible to  say  of  an  old  man  that  "he  had  snow-white  hair," 
then  I  have  seen  grizzlies  of  which  it  was  permissible  to 
say  the  same.  I  have  seen  them  as  white  as  a  mountain 
goat,  or  as  white  as  what  is  commonly  called  a  "goat-skin" 
rug.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  an  old  she  bear  with  three 
cubs,  each  of  a  different  color;  one,  for  instance,  of  a  dark 
brown,  verging  almost  upon  black,  a  second  of  a  light  buff, 
and  the  third  nearly  white,  or  white  as  far  back  as  the 
shoulders.  In  fact,  we  seldom  see  a  litter  of  cubs  that  are 
all  of  the  same  color  as  the  dam,  or,  for  that  matter,  all  of 
the  same  color.  Whence  comes  this  great  variation  of 
coloring  I  am  wholly  unable  to  say.  It  is,  however,  an 
indisputable  fact  and  typical  of  the  species  throughout  its 
range. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  however,  in  this  connection, 


Description  and  Distribution  191 

that  a  great  variability  in  color  is  also  shown  by  the  black 
bears  throughout  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  where  these 
animals  are  to  be  found  of  various  shades  from  dark 
brown  to  buff,  and  even,  occasionally,  of  a  uniform  cream 
color.  I  have  never  seen  a  jet  black  grizzly,  or  a  black 
bear  as  nearly  white  as  some  grizzlies;  but  between  these 
extremes  I  have  seen  many  bears  whose  species  was  not 
to  be  determined  by  color  alone.  Indeed,  throughout  the 
North-west,  so  far  as  the  color  of  either  the  grizzly  or  the 
black  bear  is  concerned,  it  no  more  determines  the  ani- 
mal's classification  than  does  the  track  indicate  its  color. 
One  often  hears  the  cinnamon  bear  spoken  of  as  a  dis- 
tinct species,  and  this  idea  is,  I  think,  widely  entertained; 
but  while  there  are  many  bears  of  a  cinnamon  color,  they 
may  be  either  of  the  "grizzly"  or  of  the  "black"  variety. 
I  have  seen  cinnamon  colored  bears  in  both  species. 

One  is  often  asked  as  to  one's  opinion  as  regards  the 
"typical"  color  of  the  grizzly  bear.  This  is  a  natural 
question,  both  from  the  stand-point  of  the  layman  and 
from  that  of  the  naturalist;  for  it  is  customary,  in  de- 
scribing an  animal  for  the  purposes  of  scientific  record,  to 
select  a  typical  specimen,  and  base  the  description  upon 
that.  But  having  myself  seen  so  many  hundreds  of  these 
animals,  and  having  seldom  seen  any  two  exactly  alike,  I 
have  always  both  hesitated  to  give  a  categorical  answer  to 
this  query,  and  questioned  in  my  own  mind  the  value  of  an 
arbitrary  selection.  Yet,  in  view  of  the  emphasis  often 
laid  upon  the  point,  I  wrote  to  my  friend,  Dr.  William 
T.  Hornaday,  of  the  New  York  Zoological  Society,  and 
asked  him  what  his  observations  have  been. 

Dr.  Hornaday  says :  "  Regarding  the  color  of  the  grizzly 


192  The  Grizzly  Bear 

it  remains  to-day  just  as  Lewis  and  Clark  found  it  a  cen- 
tury ago.  I  have  never  taken  the  pains  to  acquire  from 
other  authorities  any  special  information  about  the  color 
of  the  grizzly  bears — chiefly  for  the  reason  that  I  have 
myself  seen  a  sufficient  number  of  skins,  and  also  living 
bears,  ranging  all  the  way  from  Chihuahua,  Mexico,  to 
White  Horse,  Yukon  Territory.  I  have  seen,  all  told,  at 
least  two  hundred  skins  of  grizzlies,  and  not  far  from  forty 
living  bears.  Having  seen  these  variations  for  myself,  I 
have  never  taken  the  pains  to  collect  data  from  books, 
but  have  learned  much  from  practical,  bona-fide  bear 
hunters  like  yourself.  So  far  as  I  can  judge,  the  color  of 
the  grizzly  conforms  with  no  known  law  of  coloration.  I 
do  not  know  of  any  other  bear  species  in  which  the  colora- 
tion of  the  pelage  is  so  erratic  as  it  is  in  that  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  grizzly.  At  this  moment  we  have*  a  female 
grizzly  from  Colorado  which  is  very  dark,  and  so  nearly 
destitute  of  the  usual  light  color  on  her  hair  tips  that  she 
is  at  times  not  easily  distinguished  from  the  Alaskan  brown 
bears — the  latter  being  wholly  without  grizzled  hair  tips. 
With  this  bear  is  exhibited  a  medium  light-colored  grizzly 
from  Wyoming,  which,  to  judge  by  color  alone,  might  well 
be  called  another  species.  It  is  the  kind  frequently  spoken 
of  as  the  bald-face  grizzly — the  hair  of  its  entire  head  being 
of  a  light  buff  color. 

"I  have  seen  grizzly  bear  skins  from  El  Paso,  Texas, 
said  to  have  come  from  old  Mexico,  that  were  almost  a 
golden  yellow.  Our  grizzly  bear  from  White  Horse, 
Yukon  Territory,  is  about  the  same  color  as  the  so-called 
bald-face  from  Wyoming.  The  hair  of  some  grizzlies  is 

*  In  the  Zoological  Park,  New  York,  of  which  Dr.  Hornaday  is  Director. 


Description  and  Distribution  193 

light  at  the  base,  and  in  others  it  is  dark.  In  my  opinion, 
there  is  no  way  in  which  to  explain  the  erratic  color  of  the 
grizzlies. 

"Unfortunately,  there  is  no  type  specimen  to  which 
naturalists  can  refer.  The  animal  was  described  by  Lewis 
and  Clark  in  varying  terms,  according  to  the  different 
colored  specimens  that  they  saw;  but  they  brought  back 
no  skins  for  permanent  preservation,  as  representing  the 
species.  Mr.  Ord  merely  describes  the  animal  on  the 
strength  of  the  writing  of  others,  and  not  according  to  what 
he  himself  saw,  and  he  had  no  type  specimen.  It  is  very 
unfortunate  that  this  important  species  should  have  been 
described  without  a  type  specimen.  Inasmuch,  however, 
as  it  was  so  described,  it  remains  for  you,  or  any  other 
author,  to  describe  according  to  his  own  observations  what 
should  be  regarded  as  the  standard  and  the  most  typical 
color.  For  myself,  were  I  to  choose  a  skin  to  offer  to  the 
world  as  a  type,  I  would  pick  one  which  is  dark  colored, 
but  having  the  terminal  third  of  its  longest  hairs  colored 
gray.  In  other  words,  the  grizzly-gray  wash  on  the  coat 
should  not  be  ignored.  The  very  light  and  the  very  dark 
phases  I  should  regard  as  extremes,  and  in  no  sense 
typical." 

Such  a  skin  as  Dr.  Hornaday  describes  does,  un- 
doubtedly, represent  that  non-existent  thing,  the  "  average 
grizzly."  That  is  to  say,  it  is,  more  nearly  than  any  other, 
typical  of  the  abstract  idea  of  this  bear  entertained,  not 
only  by  the  general  public,  but  by  those  who  have  seen  a 
good  many  specimens.  But  as  a  matter  of  actual  observa- 
tion I  myself  would  not  select  this  kind  of  hide  for  a 
typical  one.  My  experience  has  shown  me  that  there  are, 


194  The  Grizzly  Bear 

perhaps,  fewer  bears  of  this  particular  color  than  of  any 
other,  and  if  one  is  to  be  governed  by  the  comparative 
commonness  of  a  particular  type,  I  would  select  as  a 
typical  hide  one  with  the  head  very  light  in  color  and 
shading  away  to  a  point  back  of  the  shoulders,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  body  rather  dark,  with  the  long  hairs 
slightly  tipped  with  white.  It  is  to  be  noted  that,  among 
the  bears  described  by  Dr.  Hornaday  as  at  that  time  in 
the  Bronx  Zoo,  the  one  from  Wyoming  and  the  one  from 
Alaska  approximated  to  this  description.  I  have  seen  more 
grizzlies  of  this  general  color  scheme  than  of  any  other, 
and  that,  too,  in  all  parts  of  their  range. 

Of  course  the  time  of  year  at  which  the  grizzly  is  seen 
may,  and,  I  believe,  often  does,  make  a  difference  in  its 
color;  for  a  bear  that  is  dark  in  October  may  be  a  rusty- 
red  or  a  golden-brown  in  June.  But,  so  far  as  I  am  able 
to  judge,  this  change  in  the  color  of  the  pelage  of  a  par- 
ticular bear  occurs  only  in  those  of  one  dark  color,  and, 
even  then,  is  the  result  of  particular  conditions,  and  fol- 
lows no  established  or  dependable  rule.  A  bear  that  is 
white  about  the  head  and  shoulders  is,  I  believe,  more  than 
likely  to  remain  this  color  at  all  times. 

At  one  place  in  British  Columbia,  where  I  hunted  for  a 
number  of  years,  there  was  a  bear  that  we  saw  year  after 
year  that  was  apparently  snow  white  from  the  tip  of  his 
nose  to  the  end  of  his  tail.  This  bear  was  seen  not  only  by 
myself,  and  by  various  gentlemen  who  accompanied  me 
at  different  times,  but  by  others  at  different  times  of  the 
year.  I  have  also  seen  and  recognized,  year  after  year, 
grizzlies  of  a  dark  hue,  and  know  for  a  certainty  that  they 
changed  scarcely  at  all  in  color. 


Description  and  Distribution  195 

It  is  no  doubt  due  to  this  remarkable  range  of  coloring 
that  hunters  and  trappers  have  so  persistently  maintained 
that  there  are  many  different  kinds  of  grizzlies  throughout 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  such  as  the  "bald-face,"  the 
"roach-back,"  the  "silver-tip,"  the  "range  bear,"  and 
now  and  again  the  real  grizzly.  These  old  fellows,  good 
hunters,  no  doubt,  but  infrequently  discriminating  ob- 
servers, have  insisted  that  there  is  a  difference  as  to  spe- 
cies in  these  different  colored  bears,  and  that  some  are 
more  fierce  than  others;  that  a  roach-back  or  a  bald-face, 
for  example,  will  give  the  trail  to  neither  man  nor  beast. 
But  this,  in  my  experience,  is  all  a  myth.  I  have  never 
found  that  those  of  one  color  were  any  more  ferocious 
than  those  of  another;  or,  indeed,  that  those  of  one  color 
differed  from  those  of  another  color  in  anything  but  color. 

The  size  of  the  grizzly  is  another  mooted  question. 
There  seems  to  be  a  wide-spread  idea  that  a  grizzly  must 
weigh  a  ton  or  more.  Even  in  the  mountains,  among  those 
who  ought  to  know  better,  I  have  often  heard  the  state- 
ment that  "it  could  not  have  been  a  grizzly  as  it  was  not 
large  enough."  Now,  to  whatever  size  the  grizzly  may 
attain,  it  is  not  born  weighing  a  ton.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
as  we  shall  see  later  on,  they  weigh  only  a  few  ounces  at 
birth,  and,  so  far  as  my  observations  go,  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  they  are  rather  smaller  at  birth  than  the  black 
bear.  I  have  often  seen  females  of  both  species,  with  their 
cubs,  in  July,  and  have  found  that  the  grizzly  cubs  were 
not  nearly  so  large  as  those  of  the  black  bear;  although  the 
mother  grizzly  was  fully  as  large  again  as  the  black  bear  dam. 

Moreover,  full-grown  grizzlies  differ  vastly  in  size.  I 
have  myself  killed  small  grizzlies,  and  have  seen  such 


196  The  Grizzly  Bear 

killed  by  others,  that  were  extremely  old.  Their  teeth  were 
worn  down  to  the  gums,  and  many  of  them  decayed  and 
broken  off,  and  there  was  every  other  indication  that  the 
animals  were  full  of  years;  and  yet  these  bears  would  not 
have  tipped  the  scales  at  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
or  three  hundred  pounds.  Again,  the  finest  and  largest 
specimens  of  the  grizzly  I  have  ever  seen  appeared  to  be 
in  the  prime  of  life.  Their  teeth  were  white  as  ivory,  and 
they  were  the  personification  of  strength,  size,  and  vigorous 
bearhood. 

Unfortunately,  the  weight  of  the  grizzly  has  been  more 
a  matter  of  guess  work  than  of  knowledge,  as  few  of  them 
have  been  reliably  weighed.  Some  that  have  been  raised 
in  captivity  have,  at  their  death,  been  carefully  weighed; 
but  none  of  these  have  tipped  the  scales  at  any  such 
weight  as  some  old  hunters  have  claimed  for  the  animal. 

Dr.  Hornaday  says,  regarding  the  weights  of  grizzlies 
raised  in  captivity:  "The  largest  grizzly  of  which  I  ever 
have  had  an  authentic  record  is  the  one  which  lived  and 
died  in  the  Lincoln  Park  Menagerie,  Chicago,  and  which 
was  weighed  to  oblige  Mr.  G.  O.  Shields.  Its  weight  was 
eleven  hundred  and  fifty-three  pounds.  That  is,  I  am 
certain,  the  heaviest  record  for  any  grizzly  whose  weight 
was  ever  ascertained  by  scales." 

The  largest  grizzly  that  Lewis  and  Clark  killed,  or  at 
least  the  largest  they  mention,  they  "conjectured"  would 
weigh  a  thousand  pounds.  This  bear  measured,  as  they 
state,  nine  feet  from  the  end  of  his  nose  to  the  root  of  his 
tail,  and  a  bear  of  these  dimensions  is  a  very  large  animal. 
Judging  from  my  own  observations,  I  should  say  that  they 
underestimated,  rather  than  overestimated,  its  weight. 


Description  and  Distribution  197 

James  Capen  Adams,  according  to  Mr.  Hittell, 
claimed  that  his  grizzly  bear  Sampson  had  been  weighed 
on  a  hay  scale,  and  tipped  the  beam  at  fifteen  hundred 
pounds. 

I  have  never  weighed  one  myself,  nor  have  I  ever  seen 
one  weighed.  Many  years  ago  there  was  a  large  grizzly 
killed  in  Idaho,  hauled  into  Spokane,  and  sold  to  a  butcher, 
who  claimed  that  he  weighed  it  and  paid  for  eleven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-three  pounds  of  bear  meat.  These  fig- 
ures were  placarded  on  the  carcass  as  it  hung  in  front  of 
the  shop.  I,  with  many  others,  saw  the  bear,  and,  had  it 
been  recently,  I  should  certainly  have  had  it  weighed  and 
had  the  weight  certified  to.  But  at  that  time  no  one 
thought  of  doing  such  a  thing,  and  thus,  unfortunately, 
the  statement  of  the  weight  of  one  of  the  largest  bears  I 
have  ever  seen  is  uncorroborated. 

The  gait  of  the  grizzly  is  peculiar  and  almost  impos- 
sible to  describe.  His  walk  is  a  kind  of  shuffle,  similar  to, 
yet  very  different  from,  that  of  the  black  bear.  It  is  less 
awkward,  less  loose-jointed,  and  yet  in  a  way  more  un- 
gainly, because  more  suggestive  of  power.  It  differs, 
moreover,  from  that  of  the  black  bear  in  that  at  no  time 
while  in  motion  does  the  grizzly  give  one  the  impression  of 
being  off  its  guard,  or,  so  to  say,  of  there  being  any  point 
in  its  stride  when  its  muscles  are  not  under  instant  and 
complete  command.  Any  one  familiar  with  these  two 
bears  can  tell  from  one  glance  at  the  back  or  at  the  legs 
of  an  animal  in  motion  to  which  species  it  belongs.  I 
have  mentioned  a  case  in  which  I  mistook  a  grizzly  for  a 
black  bear,  and  did  not  discover  my  error  for  some  time. 
This,  however,  was  wholly  due  to  the  fact  that  my  original 


198  The  Grizzly  Bear 

assumption  closed  my  eyes,  and,  having  once  definitely 
accepted  the  animal  as  a  black  bear,  I  simply  let  it  go  at 
that.  The  grizzly's  walk  has  the  appearance  of  leisure, 
but  he  will  cover  long  distances  in  a  remarkably  short  time 
without  once  going  out  of  it.  His  run  is  something  be- 
tween a  lope  and  a  plunging  gallop.  He  can  outrun  the 
black  bear  by  nearly  a  half,  no  man  can  match  him  in 
speed,  and  it  takes  a  mighty  good  horse  to  catch  him. 


XIX 

CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HABITS 

GRIZZLY  cubs  (it  seems,  on  the  whole,  just  as  well  to 
begin  at  the  beginning)  are  brought  forth  in  the 
winter  den,  and  at  about  the  same  time  as  those  of  the 
black  bear;  that  is,  about  the  end  of  February  or  early  in 
March.  The  period  of  gestation  is  seven  and  one-half 
months. 

Ordinarily  a  grizzly  has  either  two  or  three  cubs  to  a 
litter,  with  the  chances  somewhat  in  favor  of  the  smaller 
number.  Twice  I  have  seen  an  old  grizzly  with  four  cubs, 
and,  very  occasionally,  one  with  only  one.  In  the  summer 
of  1906,  in  one  locality,  in  the  mountains  on  the  eastern 
side  of  Yellowstone  National  Park,  I  saw  two  old  grizzlies 
with  two  cubs  each,  two  with  three  each,  and  one  with 
four. 

After  the  cubs  are  born,  the  family  continues  to  occupy 
their  den  for  a  month  or  two,  according  to  the  locality; 
and  during  this  time  the  conditions  make  it  impossible  for 
the  mother  to  get  food.  Whether  she  drinks  or  not  I  am 
unable  to  say,  but  she  could  get  water  only  in  the  form  of 
the  snow  that  has  closed  them  in.  As  no  food  is  laid  up  in 
the  den,  and  as  the  old  bear  does  not  come  out  to  forage, 

we  know  for  certain  that  she  does  not  eat  during  this  time. 

199 


2OO  The  Grizzly  Bear 

We  also  know  that  the  cubs  must  be  at  least  two  months 
old  when  they  emerge  from  the  den. 

When  the  cubs  are  first  born  they  are  wee  little  chaps, 
not  larger  than  the  common  gray  squirrel,  and  I  do  not 
think  that  at  the  time  of  birth  the  size  of  the  mother 
makes  any  material  difference  as  to  the  size  of  the  cubs; 
although  I  have  reason  to  believe  that,  as  is  often  the  case 
with  other  animals,  when  but  a  single  cub  is  born  to  a 
litter,  it  is  likely  to  be  larger  than  where  there  are  two  or 
more.  I  have  examined  the  little  fellows  shortly  after 
birth,  and  where  the  mothers  differed  greatly  in  size,  but 
the  cubs  were  always  of  about  the  same  weight. 

Adams,  in  describing  the  capture  of  Ben  Franklin, 
refers  to  the  enormous  size  of  the  old  mother  and  to  the 
smallness  of  the  cubs,  whose  eyes  were  not  yet  open.  He 
says  that  he  carried  them  both  in  his  shirt  front,  and  it  will 
be  remembered  that  he  put  them  to  nurse  to  a  greyhound 
that  happened  to  have  puppies  of  about  the  same  age, 
and  he  says  that  the  cubs  were  little,  if  any,  larger  than 
the  puppies  whose  places  they  usurped. 

As  I  had  never  actually  weighed  a  young  grizzly  cub, 
and  as  I  had  found  that  many  persons  unacquainted  with 
the  facts  in  the  case  seemed  to  regard  it  as  impossible  that 
the  young  of  so  large  an  animal  should  be  so  small,  I 
asked  Dr.  Hornaday  whether  he  had  ever  weighed  any 
cubs  born  in  captivity.  He  replied  that  "a  grizzly  cub, 
which  was  born  to  our  Colorado  grizzly,  'Lady  Washing- 
ton,' on  January  13,  1906,  weighed  eighteen  ounces." 

A  year  or  so  later,  on  the  evening  of  January  18,  1908, 
while  in  New  York  City,  I  received  word  from  Dr. 
Hornaday  that  two  cubs  had  just  been  born  to  a  Rocky 


Characteristics  and  Habits  201 

Mountain  grizzly  in  the  Bronx  Zoo,  and  that  if  I  would 
come  up  the  next  morning  I  might  see  them,  and  photo- 
graph them.  They  were  just  twelve  hours  old  when  I 
arrived,  and  the  two  weighed  one  pound,  that  is,  eight 
ounces  each.  They  measured  nine  inches  from  nose  to 
tail,  and  the  accompanying  illustration  gives  an  excellent 
idea  of  their  appearance.  The  mother  weighed  about  six 
hundred  pounds. 

Grizzly  cubs  are  born  with  their  eyes  closed,  and  do 
not  open  them  for  about  the  same  period  as  puppies  and 
kittens.  There  is  very  little  hair  on  their  bodies  at  birth, 
and  what  there  is  is  so  short  that  they  have  every  appear- 
ance of  being  naked.  They  are  born  without  teeth,  or, 
rather,  their  teeth  are  so  little  developed  that  they  can 
barely  be  felt  by  pressing  one's  finger  down  on  their  gums. 
These  teeth,  however,  grow  very  rapidly,  and  are  early 
replaced  by  a  new  set  as  sharp  as  needles. 

The  dam  and  her  family  leave  the  den  anywhere  be- 
tween the  first  of  April  and  the  middle  of  May,  according 
to  the  locality.  I  have  never  found  the  fresh  track  of  a 
grizzly  in  the  Kootenai  country  earlier  than  the  5th  of 
May,  while  in  the  southern  part  of  central  Idaho  I  have 
seen  where  a  grizzly  had  left  his  den  as  early  as  the  middle 
of  March.  The  male  bears  leave  their  dens  from  one  to 
three  weeks  before  the  female  and  her  cubs  come  out; 
yet  in  any  one  locality,  nearly  all  of  each  class  leave  their 
dens  about  the  same  time. 

How  the  brutes  can  tell  just  when  to  come  out  is  one 
of  their  own  secrets.  In  the  Selkirks  they  den  so  high  up 
among  the  peaks  that  when  they  emerge  there  are  from 
four  to  six  (and  in  some  cases  even  ten)  feet  of  snow  still 


2O2  The  Grizzly  Bear 

lying  over  the  country  like  a  great  white  blanket.  Only 
on  the  slides,  which  have  been  swept  by  the  tremendous 
avalanches  that  usually  come  down  in  March,  is  the 
ground  clear.  Yet  on  one  of  our  trips  to  this  region  we  saw 
where  thirteen  grizzlies  came  down  the  mountain  side  in 
a  single  night.  They  all  came  down  an  open  place  not 
over  half  a  mile  across,  and  it  was  in  following  their  trails 
back  up  the  mountain  that  I  found  the  six  dens  hereafter 
mentioned.  These  were  all  natural  caves  among  the 
cliffs,  their  mouths  well  concealed  by  thick  firs  and  juni- 
per brush,  and  the  animals,  in  coming  out,  had  broken 
through  some  five  feet  of  snow.  As  it  is,  therefore,  not  the 
melting  snow  that  arouses  them,  it  would  seem  that  there 
must  be  some  kind  of  nature's  alarm  clock,  known  to  the 
bears,  that  informs  them  when  it  is  time  to  get  up. 

It  is  some  months  before  the  young  cubs  begin  to  forage 
for  themselves,  even  in  part.  Dr.  Hornaday,  speaking  of 
bears  in  captivity,  writes  me:  "I  think  the  average  age  at 
which  a  grizzly  cub  begins  to  feed  independently  of  his 
mother's  milk  is  about  four  months.  Of  course,  the  be- 
ginning on  solid  food  is  made  very  slowly,  and  the  young- 
sters nurse  vigorously  all  summer." 

I  am,  however,  sure  that  this  weaning  process  begins 
later  in  the  wild  state.  I  have  many  times  seen  a  mother 
grizzly  digging  roots  and  feeding  on  grasses  in  August 
while  her  cubs  were  running  about  or  lying  in  the  sun, 
and  seemed  to  take  no  interest  whatever  in  the  food  that 
she  was  so  busy  in  getting.  Yet  a  bear  cub,  when  the 
time  comes,  knows  just  as  much  about  the  proper  food  of 
the  bears  in  the  locality  where  it  was  born  as  does  the 
oldest  bear  on  the  range. 


Characteristics  and  Habits  203 

I  have  caught  them  when  they  first  came  from  the  den, 
and  when  the  earth  was  covered  with  a  thick  mantle  of 
snow,  and  have  then  taken  them  from  their  mothers,  and 
for  weeks  fed  them  milk  and  such  soft  foods  as  I  could 
make  them  eat;  and  then  found  that,  when  they  were  old 
enough,  they  would  go  out  and,  wholly  untaught,  select 
the  food  that  the  old  bears  were  eating  at  the  time.  One 
black  bear  cub  that  I  took  in  this  way  I  kept  with  me  all 
through  the  summer  and  fall  hunting,  having  caught  him 
early  in  June,  in  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains,  when  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow  and  when  he  first  came 
from  the  den.  He  was  then  a  little  fellow  not  larger  than  a 
common  house  cat,  and  cried  for  his  mother  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  for  a  couple  of  weeks. 

This  cub  I  took  about  with  me  all  over  the  mountains 
for  more  than  four  months,  and  I  learned  many  a  thing 
about  bears  from  him.  Whenever,  as  he  grew  older,  we 
were  in  camp  and  he  wished  to  get  loose,  as  he  would  show 
by  pulling  at  his  chain  and  bawling,  I  would  free  him, 
and  then  follow  to  see  what  he  was  after.  He  invariably 
made  for  some  bottom  land  and  dug  for  roots,  or  nipped 
off  the  grass  where  it  grew  young  and  tender.  I  have  seen 
him  dig  more  than  a  foot  down  into  the  ground  for  some 
root  that  had  not  yet  sent  up  its  shoot,  and — although  how 
the  young  rascal  could  tell  just  where  to  dig  was  beyond 
me — he  always  found  his  tidbit.  Moreover,  he  knew  the 
berry  bushes  from  the  others  by  the  same  inherited  knowl- 
edge. He  would  reach  up  and  pull  down  the  branches  of 
these  to  examine  them,  although  there  might  not  be  any 
berries  on  them  at  the  time,  and  he  never,  that  I  saw, 
made  a  single  mistake.  He  soon  came  to  pay  no  attention 


204  The  Grizzly  Bear 

to  my  presence,  and  whenever  he  dug  up  anything  from 
the  earth  that  I  did  not  recognize,  I  would  open  his  mouth, 
take  it  away  from  him,  and  keep  it  while  I  examined  it. 

When  the  cubs  first  come  from  their  dens  at  from  two 
to  three  months  of  age,  they  are  about  the  size  of  a  house 
cat,  and  will  weigh  from  ten  to  fifteen  pounds.  At  from 
five  to  six  months  of  age,  that  is  to  say,  in  July  or  August, 
they  will  probably  weigh  about  thirty  pounds.  Late  in 
the  fall,  when  ready  to  den  up  again,  they  will  tip  the 
scales  at  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  pounds.  When  a 
grizzly  is  nearly  two  years  old,  that  is,  in  the  second  fall, 
when  he  is  ready  to  den  up  for  the  winter,  he  will  ordinarily 
weigh  anywhere  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hun- 
dred pounds. 

In  their  wild  state  the  cubs  den  up  with  the  mother 
for  the  winter  following  their  birth,  and  follow  her  during 
the  second  summer,  after  which  they  are  cast  aside  to 
shift  for  themselves,  and  the  old  lady  will  again  den  up 
alone,  bringing  out  another  litter  of  cubs  the  following 
spring.  Naturalists,  who  have  studied  these  bears  in 
captivity,  claim  that  they  then  breed  every  year,  but  I  am 
satisfied  that  this  is  not  true  of  them  in  a  state  of  nature. 
In  the  open,  one  sees  as  many  she  grizzlies  with  yearling 
cubs  as  one  sees  with  little  spring  cubs. 

When  a  litter  of  young  grizzlies  come  to  leave  their 
mother  they  do  not,  as  a  rule,  separate,  but  travel  in  com- 
pany for  at  least  a  year;  and  it  is,  I  imagine,  this  habit  of 
theirs  that  has  given  rise  to  the  idea  that  the  full-grown 
animals  are  gregarious.  I  know  that  in  some  cases,  and  I 
believe  in  most,  if  not  all,  the  cubs  den  up  together  for 
their  second  winter,  and  it  is  (or  used  to  be,  alas!)  a  com- 


Characteristics  and  Habits  205 

mon  sight  to  see  them,  during  their  third  summer,  working 
together  under  the  undisputed  command  of  the  one  to 
whom  they  had  yielded  the  leadership.  I  incline  to  the 
belief  that  they  do  not  separate  and  breed  until  the  follow- 
ing spring. 

When  not  feeding,  grizzlies  lie  up  in  some  dense  thicket 
near  a  stream,  or,  if  in  a  region  where  they  are  apt  to  be 
disturbed,  far  back  in  some  high  canon.  I  have  seen 
many  of  their  beds.  In  the  Selkirks,  these  sleeping  places 
are  far  above  timber  line,  dug  out  from  the  side  of  steep 
mountains  where  there  is  not  a  shrub  or  a  bush  to  screen 
them,  and  where  they  have  an  unobstructed  view  of  miles 
of  country.  Here,  as  the  signs  indicate,  they  return  to 
sleep  day  after  day. 

I  have  sometimes  almost  thought  that  these  bears,  in 
a  way,  enjoy  the  grand  view  to  be  had  from  these  heights. 
Not  only  have  I  found  their  bedrooms  high  up  among  the 
crags  and  overlooking  range  upon  range  of  highest  moun- 
tain, with  restful,  wide-spreading  valleys  below;  but  it  has 
been  no  unusual  experience,  while  hunting  in  these  high 
regions,  to  see  an  old  bear,  after  feeding  for  an  hour  or 
more  far  out  of  reach  of  my  rifle,  stroll  deliberately  out  to 
the  edge  of  some  high  cliff  overlooking  all  creation,  and 
sit  there  on  his  haunches  like  a  dog,  swinging  his  massive 
head  slowly  and  dignifiedly  from  side  to  side.  I  have 
already  mentioned  the  grizzly  that  we  called  White  Jim, 
on  Wilson's  Creek  in  the  Selkirks.  This  old  white  bear 
went  through  this  performance  nearly  every  day  for  three 
weeks. 

Grown  grizzlies  do  not  climb  trees.  And  this  for  a 
simple  reason.  They  are  not  built  that  way.  Once  in  a 


2o6  The  Grizzly  Bear 

while  I  have  seen  a  grizzly  cub  go  up  a  tree  whose  branches 
started  at  the  very  ground  and  grew  in  such  a  way  as  to 
allow  him  to  step  from  one  to  another;  but  they  never 
climb  smooth  and  straight-bodied  trees  as  do  black  bears 
of  all  ages,  and  they  never  encircle  the  tree  with  their 
arms,  as  such  an  animal  must,  in  order  to  climb  a  smooth 
trunk.  Grown  grizzlies  will  walk  out  on  a  leaning  tree 
such  as  a  man  might  walk  out  on  with  rubber-soled  shoes, 
and  they  are  very  expert  walkers  on  fallen  logs  and  timber, 
and  often  take  to  them  when  trailed.  But  they  not  only 
do  not,  but  cannot,  climb. 

The  grizzly  is  not,  as  many  hunters  and  sportsmen 
suppose,  a  gregarious  animal.  One  may,  and,  indeed, 
often  does,  see  several  of  them  feeding  at  the  same  time  in 
the  same  bottom,  or  among  the  bushes  of  a  single  berry 
patch.  But,  except  in  the  case  of  a  she  bear  with  cubs, 
or  of  a  litter  of  cubs  that  have  left  their  mother,  but  have 
not  yet  disbanded,  they  will  always  be  found  to  come 
singly,  and  to  depart  in  like  manner.  Indeed,  the  etiquette 
that  appears  to  govern  these  chance  meetings  is  one  of  the 
most  amusing  things  about  these  animals.  An  old  bear 
will  emerge  from  the  bushes  surrounding  an  open  glade 
where  several  others  are  already  feeding;  he  will  pause  and 
look  critically  about  as  though  examining  the  lay  of  the 
land  and  the  distribution  of  the  trees  and  bushes;  but  he 
will  show  in  no  way  that  he  is  conscious  of  the  presence  of 
the  other  bears;  and  these,  in  their  turn,  will  go  on  about 
their  business,  and  by  not  so  much  as  a  batted  eyelid  show 
any  recognition  of  his  arrival.  Sometimes,  later  on,  if  two 
of  them  meet,  or  clash  over  some  tidbit,  their  first  move- 
ment is  always  one  of  surprise  at  the  other's  presence,  and 


Characteristics  and  Habits  207 

this  enforced  dropping  of  their  incognito  is  more  likely 
than  not  to  be  followed  by  the  retreat  of  the  smaller  of 
them  from  the  feeding  ground. 

I  have  seen  as  many  as  nine  grizzlies  in  one  berry  patch, 
and  as  many  as  five  fishing  on  one  riffle  of  a  salmon 
stream;  but  they  not  only  came  and  went  singly,  but, 
while  there,  they  gave  no  outward  sign  of  mutual  recogni- 
tion or  even  of  mutual  consciousness. 

It  is  even  open  to  doubt  as  to  whether  the  males  and 
females  travel  together  during  the  mating  season,  and  I 
have  never  seen  full-grown  grizzlies  living  or  travelling  in 
company. 

The  mating  time  of  the  grizzly  throughout  the  North- 
west extends,  according  to  locality,  from  about  the  middle 
of  June  until  about  the  first  of  August.  I  have  been 
unable  to  determine  whether  individual  males  and  females 
deliberately  seek  each  other  out  during  this  time,  pair  off, 
and  stay  together  for  a  month  or  more,  or  whether  they 
meet  by  chance  and  again  separate.  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  the  latter,  as  I  have  never  yet  seen  the  two  together 
at  any  time  of  the  year.  That  they  do  not  stay  together 
during  the  winter  I  am  absolutely  convinced,  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  they  remain  in  company  for  any  material 
part  of  the  summer. 

This  opinion,  like  most  others  expressed  in  this  volume, 
is  based  on  many  observations,  no  one  of  which  was  con- 
clusive, but  all  of  which,  taken  together,  were  not  to  be 
ignored.  I  may,  for  example,  cite  the  following  instance: 
On  one  occasion,  while  on  a  bear-hunting  expedition  in 
May  and  June,  I  was  camped  in  a  part  of  the  Bitter  Root 
range  near  an  old  trapper  who  was  trapping  bear.  It  was 


208  The  Grizzly  Bear 

near  the  end  of  the  trapping  season,  and  this  old  fellow 
was  about  to  take  up  his  traps,  as  fur  was  becoming  poor. 
Near  where  he  had  one  of  his  traps  set  we  had,  on  several 
occasions,  seen  the  tracks  of  a  large  grizzly,  and  he  had 
left  this  trap  to  the  very  last  in  hopes  of  catching  him. 

It  was  now  the  mating  season,  and  although  there  were 
bear  tracks  all  over  the  country,  we  could  never  find  where 
more  than  one  large  bear  had  gone  at  a  time. 

The  last  morning  that  he  went  to  look  at  the  trap  near 
where  we  had  seen  the  large  tracks,  I  went  with  him, 
thinking  that,  as  the  bears  were  so  much  on  the  move,  I 
might,  perhaps,  get  a  shot.  There  were  also  some  large 
snow-banks  near  by,  upon  which  these  bears  are  very  fond 
of  lying  when  the  weather  is  warm,  and  as  I  had  already 
shot  several  bears  there,  I  thought  it  likely  that  I  might 
catch  the  old  fellow  cooling  himself  on  the  snow. 

As  we  came  near  the  pen  in  which  the  trap  was  set  we 
saw  the  old  grizzly  rise  up  just  outside  of  it,  but,  as  we 
both  supposed  that  he  was  fast  in  the  trap,  we  did  not 
shoot.  To  our-  surprise,  however,  after  taking  a  look  at 
us,  he  bolted  for  a  thicket  and  disappeared  in  a  twinkling. 
It  was  all  so  sudden  and  unexpected  that  we  simply  stood 
agape,  and  as  the  bear  had  only  to  make  a  couple  of 
jumps  to  get  out  of  sight,  he  was  safe  before  we  had  any 
chance  of  shooting  him. 

But  a  greater  surprise  than  this  awaited  us.  On  com- 
ing up  to  the  pen  we  found  a  large  female  grizzly  caught  in 
the  trap,  and  chewed,  mauled,  and  pounded  to  death. 
From  the  looks  of  things  there  had  been  a  hot  old  fight. 
Of  course  we  had  seen  from  a  distance  that  the  logs  form- 
ing the  pen  had  been  thrown  down,  but  we  had  assumed 


Characteristics  and  Habits  209 

that  the  bear  that  ran  away  had  done  this  before  he  knew 
that  he  was  not  fast  in  the  trap.  The  head  of  the  dead 
bear  was  chewed  to  such  an  extent  that  her  most  intimate 
friends  would  not  have  recognized  her,  and,  upon  taking 
off  her  skin,  we  found  great  masses  of  clotted  blood  under 
the  hide  that  showed  how  fearfully  she  had  been  mauled. 

Why  the  male  had  killed  her  can,  of  course,  only  be 
surmised;  but  the  facts  seemed  to  point  to  only  one  con- 
clusion. The  two  had  come  to  the  pen,  as  the  tracks 
showed,  from  different  directions.  The  female  had,  of 
course,  come  first,  as  she  had  been  caught  in  the  trap,  but 
the  male  must  have  arrived  at  about  the  same  time,  or 
the  one  in  the  trap  would  have  dragged  it  from  the  pen. 
Probably,  being  exasperated  by  her  predicament,  the 
female  had  been  unable  or  unwilling  to  reciprocate  in 
love-making,  and  the  male  had  become  enraged  and  killed 
her. 

This  is  one  of  the  experiences  that  lead  me  to  believe 
that  these  bears  do  not  travel  together  during  the  mating 
season.  It  also  leads  me  to  doubt  the  claim  sometimes 
made  that  they  are  more  pugnacious  at  this  season  than  at 
any  other;  else  this  one,  already  enraged  and  disappointed, 
would  surely  have  attacked  us  as  we  approached  him. 

I  have  never  yet  seen  a  whole  family  of  grizzlies  to- 
gether; that  is,  the  male,  female,  and  cubs;  and  I  do  not 
believe  that  they  consort  together  in  this  way.  I  am,  in- 
deed, inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  male  will  kill  the 
young  when  they  are  under  four  or  five  months  of  age.  I 
have  noticed  that  a  mother  bear,  when  with  her  young 
cubs,  takes  every  means  to  avoid  meeting  any  male  bear, 
and  is  always  cranky  and  ready  to  scrap  with  any  other 


2i o  The  Grizzly  Bear 

grizzly,  be  it  male  or  female,  that  chances  to  put  in  an 
appearance. 

On  two  occasions  I  have  known  an  old  male  grizzly 
to  kill  and  eat  a  small  cub  that  was  tied  up  with  a  chain, 
and  once,  while  hunting  bears  in  the  spring,  I  witnessed  the 
following  incident,  or,  rather,  found  the  evidences  of  it. 
A  trapper  had  caught  in  one  of  his  traps  a  female  grizzly 
that  was  accompanied  by  her  two  cubs.  She  had  dragged 
the  trap  and  clog  for  several  hundred  yards,  where  the  clog 
had  finally  caught  in  a  clump  of  brush  and  stopped  her. 
And  while  thus  held  fast,  an  old  male  grizzly  had  come 
along,  and  had  not  only  killed  her,  but  had  killed  and 
eaten  the  cubs.  When  we  arrived,  he  was  sitting  under  a 
tree  close  by,  and  we  shot  him  through  the  head.  We 
found  a  few  scraps  of  the  cubs  lying  about,  and  part  of  one 
of  them  was  buried  near  where  he  had  been  sitting. 

All  my  observations,  as  I  say,  have  led  me  to  believe 
that  a  free  male  grizzly  will,  if  he  gets  a  chance,  kill  his 
young  cubs;  but  as  the  matter  is  not  susceptible  of  proof, 
I  consulted  Dr.  Hornaday  as  to  what  his  observations  had 
been  on  this  point,  in  the  matter  of  bears  in  captivity,  and 
I  give  herewith  what  he  says  of  the  matter:  "Of  course, 
male  bears  in  captivity  would  be  likely  to  destroy  young 
cubs  during  their  first  six  months — if  they  got  the  oppor- 
tunity. It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  sequestrate  the  males 
and  give  each  female  a  den  wholly  to  herself  and  her  cubs. 
We  had  great  trouble  in  keeping  our  young  cubs  from 
getting  their  paws  into  adjoining  dens  and  having  them 
bitten  off*  by  older  bears." 

The  grizzly  does  not  den  up  for  the  winter  at  as  low  an 
altitude  as  does  the  black  bear,  but  seeks  the  higher  hills, 


Characteristics  and  Habits  211 

where  he  usually  goes  into  his  winter  quarters  some  time  in 
November,  or  perhaps  a  little  later,  according  to  the 
locality  and  the  weather  conditions. 

The  den  is  usually  in  some  natural  cave,  although 
occasionally  it  may  be  made  by  the  bear  himself.  I  have 
found  a  number  of  the  winter  homes  of  the  grizzly,  and 
he  usually  selects  a  dryer  and  warmer  shelter  than  does  the 
black  bear.  Black  bears  will  den  in  almost  any  place,  and 
while  they  usually  dig  a  hole  under  an  upturned  root,  or 
under  a  fallen  tree,  I  have  seen  where  they  have  used 
natural  caves,  into  which  they  have  scraped  a  bed  of 
grass  or  leaves;  but  the  grizzly  seldom,  if  ever,  takes  his 
long  nap  under  fallen  timber.  He  usually  seeks  the  higher 
altitudes  along  the  timber  line,  and  sometimes  even  goes 
higher  yet.  Here,  in  the  canons  among  the  cliffs,  natural 
caves  are  found,  and  into  these  a  grizzly  will  scrape  and 
drag  anything  that  can  be  converted  into  a  bed,  and,  thus 
hidden  and  protected,  will  pass  away  the  several  months 
of  winter  undisturbed  by  snow  and  storm. 

Under  certain  conditions  they  will  dig  large  holes 
under  big  rocks,  in  which  to  make  their  beds.  I  have  ex- 
amined several  such  places,  and  in  two  instances  found 
where  the  bears  had  dug  clean  through  to  the  other  side. 
I  have  also  seen  where,  the  elements  having  in  the  course 
of  time  caved  in  the  earth  close  to  the  rocks,  the  bears  had 
pulled  old  logs  and  brush  over  the  breaks,  and  thus  re- 
paired the  damage.  These  were  evidently  favorite  places 
for  dens,  and  the  bears,  loath  to  give  them  up,  had  done 
this  in  order  to  retain  their  old  bedrooms.  My  friend, 
Mr.  A.  L.  A.  Himmelwright,  of  New  York,  found  a  den  of 
exactly  this  sort  a  few  years  ago  in  the  mountains  west  of 


212  The  Grizzly  Bear 

the  Big  Hole  country,  in  Montana.  It  was  rather  late  in 
the  fall,  with  a  veneer  of  snow  on  the  ground,  and  he  found 
the  den  by  trailing  the  bears,  an  old  female  and  two  cubs. 
It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  when  the  denning  time 
comes,  the  male  and  female  go  into  the  same  den;  but 
this,  I  think,  is  a  false  notion.  Not  only  do  I  believe  that 
the  male  bear  would  kill  and  eat  the  cubs  after  they  were 
born,  but  I  have  never  discovered  a  den  that  showed  evi- 
dences of  having  been  occupied  by  more  than  the  old 
female  bear.  In  the  case  of  a  barren  she  bear,  a  partner- 
ship arrangement  as  to  winter  quarters  may  possibly  be 
made,  now  and  then;  but  I  cling  to  the  belief  that  no  two 
full-grown  grizzlies  go  into  the  same  den  for  the  winter. 
In  the  Selkirks,  where  the  bears  den  along  the  high  moun- 
tain tops,  and  in  the  spring  come  down  from  their  winter 
homes  over  the  deep  snows,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  back- 
track them  and  find  where  they  have  wintered.  I  have 
often  done  this  and,  having  gone  into  the  mountains  two 
or  three  weeks  before  a  bear  track  could  be  found,  have, 
when  the  first  track  appeared,  taken  the  trail  and  followed 
it  back  to  the  den. 

I  have  seen  as  many  as  four  grizzlies  come  from  one 
den.  But  they  were  of  about  the  same  size,  and  were 
youngsters  not  over  two  years  old,  and  presumably  all  of 
one  litter  that  had  not  yet  been  broken  up. 

James  Capen  Adams,  in  describing  his  capture  of  Ben 
Franklin  in  the  den  whence  the  cubs'  mother  had  just 
issued  to  her  death,  says  that,  before  going  into  the  dark 
den  to  look  for  the  young  bears,  "I  trembled  for  the 
moment  at  the  thought  of  another  old  bear  in  the  den;  but 
on  second  thought  I  assured  myself  of  the  folly  of  such  an 


Characteristics  and  Habits  213 

idea;  for  an  occurrence  of  this  kind  would  have  been 
against  all  experience." 

I  once  found  six  of  these  dens  in  a  single  day  in  the 
Selkirks,  and  not  more  than  one  bear  had  come  from  any 
of  them,  although,  while  some  of  the  dens  were  only  large 
enough  for  one  to  lie  in,  others  were  of  a  size  sufficient  to 
hold  several  bears  had  they  wished  to  sleep  together.  In 
the  smaller  caves,  because  of  restricted  quarters,  I  found 
much  hair  that  had  been  rubbed  off  the  animal  by  contact 
with  the  sharp  rock,  as  each  had  changed  his  position  from 
time  to  time  during  his  long  period  of  slumber.  Now, 
were  it  a  common  practice  for  bears  to  den  together  in  the 
same  cave,  it  seems  that  they  would  have  done  so  here; 
for  all  six  caves  were  in  the  same  ridge,  and  the  two  ex- 
treme caves  were  less  than  half  a  mile  apart.  I  thought, 
at  the  time,  that  I  would  visit  these  caves  in  the  fall  and 
see  if  the  same  den  was  occupied  year  after  year,  but  the 
opportunity  to  do  so  never  presented  itself. 

The  grizzly  is  rather  a  restless  fellow  just  before  den- 
ning up.  The  bed  is  usually  prepared  beforehand  and 
made  ready  for  occupancy  at  a  moment's  notice.  After 
which,  long  excursions  in  search  of  food  are  often  made 
about  the  country,  some  of  them  to  points  as  far  as  ten  or 
twenty  miles  away. 

To  what  age  the  grizzly  lives  in  the  wild  state  is 
entirely  a  matter  of  conjecture.  I  am  of  the  opinion,  how- 
ever, that,  under  favorable  circumstances,  they  live  to  be 
from  twenty-five  to  forty  years  old.  I  have  come  to  this 
conclusion  from  the  fact  that  I  once,  for  twelve  successive 
years,  kept  track  of  one  identical  bear  that  was  full  grown 
when  I  first  met  him,  and  that  showed  no  evidence  of  old 


214  The  Grizzly  Bear 

age  when  I  lost  sight  of  him.  This  was  in  the  Bitter  Root 
range  in  Idaho.  Every  fall,  for  these  twelve  years,  we  saw 
where  this  old  grizzly  had  made  his  way  up  to  the  main 
range  to  den  up  for  the  winter;  and  each  succeeding 
spring  we  saw  his  track  as  he  again  sought  the  lower 
country  to  spend  the  summer  among  the  berries  and  the 
salmon.  That  it  was  the  same  bear  I  am  certain,  for  not 
only  was  his  track  a  huge  one,  and  not  likely  to  be  du- 
plicated, but  I  have  seen  the  bear  himself  many  times,  and 
on  several  occasions  could  have  shot  him.  He  was,  as  I 
say,  full  grown  the  first  time  I  saw  him,  and  there  was 
during  all  these  years  no  appreciable  difference  in  the  size 
of  his  track,  which  measured  nearly  fifteen  inches.  Each 
fall,  as  we  came  from  these  hunting  grounds,  and  made  our 
way  out  into  Montana,  we  looked  for  the  track  of  this 
old  monarch,  and  invariably  saw  his  footprints.  Where 
he  kept  himself  during  the  summer  and  early  fall  I  was 
never  able  to  learn,  as  I  could  not,  during  these  times,  find 
even  his  track. 

Dr.  Hornaday,  in  speaking  of  bears  in  captivity,  says: 
"The  bears  of  North  America  generally  reach  full  ma- 
turity between  the  ages  of  six  and  seven  years.  Some  are 
full  grown  at  six  years — others  not  until  seven." 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  in  the  wild  state  grizzlies 
do  not  usually  reach  full  maturity  until  somewhat  later. 
I  have  watched  several  that  inhabited  certain  localities, 
and  they,  I  am  sure,  did  not  reach  their  full  growth  under 
eight  years.  Allowing,  then,  for  the  time  it  must  have 
taken  this  grizzly  to  attain  his  growth,  and  adding  to  this 
the  time  he  roamed  the  hills  under  my  observation,  his 
age  when  I  last  saw  him  would  have  been  beyond  the 


Characteristics  and  Habits  215 

twenty-year  limit.  Of  course,  bears  in  captivity  may,  on 
an  average,  live  longer  than  those  exposed  to  the  dangers 
and  vicissitudes  of  the  open.  Yet  they  have  not  the  induce- 
ments to  live  so  long,  nor  do  they,  I  believe,  grow  so  large 
as  those  in  the  wild  state.  Those  in  captivity  have  neither 
the  fields  to  roam  in,  nor  the  streams  to  plunge  into,  nor 
the  sunlight  that  a  bear  loves,  nor  the  exercise  that  all 
bears  take  so  freely  in  the  wilds.  All  these  things  work 
together  for  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  bears  in  far  places. 
On  the  other  hand,  those  confined  in  man-made  dens  and 
pits  have  the  certainty  of  food,  security  from  enemies,  and 
the  vegetating  chances  of  a  life  of  sloth.  Nevertheless, 
something  of  the  allotted  age  of  free  bears  may  be 
inferred  from  the  known  life  span  of  those  in  captivity. 
On  March  22,  1909,  a  grizzly  was  chloroformed  in  the 
Central  Park  Menagerie,  in  New  York,  that  had  been 
purchased  from  Barnum's  Circus  in  1884,  and  had,  during 
these  twenty-five  years,  been  confined  in  the  pits  in  New 
York. 

That  many  bears  in  the  open  live  to  what,  for  a  bear, 
constitutes  a  ripe  old  age,  I  am  able  to  testify.  I  have 
seen  them  so  decrepit  that  they  walked  like  octogenarians, 
and  I  have  killed  those  that  showed  unmistakable  evi- 
dences of  being  full  of  years.  Strangely  enough,  I  have 
never  yet  seen  or  found  dead  a  grizzly  bear  that  had  died 
a  natural  death.  In  no  one  of  the  caves  where  they  hiber- 
nate have  I  ever  found  a  solitary  bone,  and,  although  I 
have  more  than  once  seen  an  aged  bear  in  a  certain  locality 
one  season,  and  found  the  next  year  that  he  had  disap- 
peared, I  have  never,  even  after  careful  search,  found 
trace  of  his  remains  or  hint  of  the  manner  of  his  end. 


2i6  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Probably  in  some  hidden  cave,  in  some  remote  and  lonely 
spot,  the  old  hero  of  a  hundred  fierce  contests  had  passed, 
all  unconsciously,  perhaps,  from  his  winter  slumber  into 
his  unwaking  sleep. 


XX 

FOOD  AND  FEEDING 

THE  grizzly  bear  is,  in  the  technical  sense  of  the 
word,  omnivorous;  that  is  to  say,  he  is  both  her- 
bivorous and  carnivorous,  fitted  by  nature  and  accustomed 
by  instinct  to  feed  upon  flesh  or  to  graze  upon  grass,  to 
dig  roots,  gather  berries,  catch  fish,  and  lap  up  ants,  grubs, 
and  other  larvae. 

He  is,  however,  taken  by  and  large  throughout  the 
range  inhabited  by  him,  almost  as  erratic  in  his  food 
habits  as  he  is  in  color.  But  these  frequently  astonishing 
differences  in  taste  and  dietary  seem  to  be  entirely  the 
result  of  environment,  and,  with  occasional  exceptions, 
the  feeding  habits  of  the  grizzly  in  any  given  region  are 
identical. 

At  first  sight  these  divergent  traits  and  habits  appear 
puzzling,  but  I  think  that  the  explanation  is,  after  all,  a 
simple  one.  The  grizzly  is  not,  I  believe,  much  of  a 
traveller,  and  hence,  those  of  a  given  region,  having  for 
generations  been  restricted  to  the  obtainable  food  of  their 
habitat,  are  found  to  have  quite  lost  their  taste  for  food 
natural  to  the  species,  but  which  they  and  their  immediate 
ancestors  have  never  seen. 

Let  us,  for  example,  consider  the  food  of  the  grizzly  in 

217 


2i 8  The  Grizzly  Bear 

that  part  of  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  known  as  the 
Clearwater  country,  in  Idaho.  First,  in  the  early  spring, 
he  eats  the  tender  shoots  of  grass  that  he  finds  on  the  hill- 
sides having  a  southern  exposure,  and  for  some  little  time 
this  constitutes  his  sole  sustenance.  He  then  seeks  the 
streams,  where  for  nearly  a  month  he  fishes  for  salmon. 
He  is,  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  deft  fisherman,  but  at 
this  time  of  year  he  is  not  as  successful  as  when  the  later 
runs  of  salmon  appear,  when  the  water  is  lower  and 
clearer.  However,  for  some  weeks  he  manages  to  live  on 
his  catches.  After  the  salmon  run  is  over,  he  again  be- 
takes himself  to  the  hills,  where  he  turns  over  rocks  and 
dead  trees,  tears  up  stumps,  rips  open  logs,  and  overhauls 
things  generally,  hunting  for  ants,  grubs,  and  any  larvae 
that  he  can  find  to  eat.  These  suffice  him  until  the  berries 
are  ripe,  and  after  the  berry  harvest  is  garnered  he  turns 
to  the  autumn  run  of  salmon.  The  fish  now  supply  his 
larder  abundantly  for  another  month,  and  then  he  once 
more  seeks  the  sidehills  and  forages  for  any  stray  grubs  or 
ants  that  were  fortunate  enough  to  escape  his  first  cam- 
paign. Such  is  the  bill  of  fare  of  the  grizzly  throughout 
the  Bitter  Roots. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  same  animal  a  few  hundred 
miles  away  in  the  mountains  of  northern  Wyoming. 
Here  the  grizzly  does  not  dig  to  any  great  extent  for  roots, 
nor  is  he  the  confirmed  grass  and  fish  eater  that  he  is  in  the 
Bitter  Roots;  but,  aside  from  the  berries  that  all  grizzlies 
love,  and  the  ants  and  grubs  that  they  never  refuse,  he  is, 
spring  and  fall,  very  decidedly  carnivorous.  In  this 
Wyoming  region  there  are  thousands  of  head  of  elk  and 
other  game.  During  the  winter  many  perish,  and  their 


Food  and  Feeding  219 

bodies  lie  until  spring  under  the  snow.  During  the  fall 
many  are  shot,  and  their  carcasses  left  lying  where  they 
fall.  These  the  grizzly  feeds  on.  In  the  Bitter  Root 
country,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  not  one  grizzly  in  fifty 
would  touch  a  carcass  thus  found. 

Farther  north,  in  the  Kootenai  region,  and  throughout 
the  Selkirks  in  British  Columbia,  it  is  again  true  that  not 
one  grizzly  in  a  hundred  will  touch  flesh.  In  the  Kootenai 
there  is  little  game  of  any  kind,  except  bears  and  Rocky 
Mountain  goats.  In  the  higher  Selkirks  there  are  not  even 
fish  for  them  to  catch,  since,  on  account  of  the  precipitous 
nature  of  the  country  and  the  number  of  waterfalls,  the 
creeks  cannot  be  ascended  by  the  fish.  In  these  regions, 
therefore,  the  grizzlies  live  and  die  vegetarians.  They  do, 
however,  spend  much  time  in  the  late  fall  in  travelling 
along  the  higher  ridges,  hunting  for  Columbian  ground 
squirrels  and  whistling  marmots,  and  digging  these  out  of 
their  winter  homes.  These  little  animals  hibernate,  as  do 
the  grizzlies,  but  they  turn  in  earlier;  and  in  a  region  where 
they  are  found  the  bears  take  great  delight  in  unearthing 
them,  and  sometimes  will  dig  out  carloads  of  earth  and 
rocks  to  secure  a  small  feast  of  the  little  fellows.  This  is 
the  last  food  the  grizzly  obtains  before  he  goes  into  his 
long  winter  sleep. 

The  claws  of  the  grizzly  are  well  adapted  for  this 
peculiar  sort  of  work;  yet,  long  and  strong  as  they  are,  so 
much  of  it  does  he  have  to  do  that,  by  the  time  he  is  ready 
to  go  into  winter  quarters,  they  are  worn  down  to  the  quick, 
and  not  much,  if  any,  longer  than  those  of  the  black  bear. 
After  his  long  winter's  sleep,  however,  when  he  emerges 
from  his  den  in  the  spring,  he  is  once  more  armed  with 


22O  The  Grizzly  Bear 

strong  curved  claws,  from  four  to  six  inches  long.  In 
those  parts  of  the  country  where  he  does  not  have  to  hus- 
tle so  hard  for  roots  and  ground  squirrels — for  instance, 
in  some  parts  of  Wyoming,  central  Idaho,  and  Montana — 
the  grizzly  does  not  wear  his  claws  down  so  close.  Yet  he 
seems,  on  the  whole,  to  attain  a  larger  growth  where  he 
has  to  work  most — just  as  a  hen  lays  most  eggs  when  she 
is  compelled  to  scratch  hardest. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  old  trapper  whom  we 
found  on  the  headwaters  of  Wilson's  Creek.  He  claimed 
to  be  something  of  an  expert,  and  figured  that  he  was 
going  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  in  grizzly-bear  pelts;  but  in 
two  seasons'  trapping  he  caught  only  one  grown  grizzly 
and  one  cub,  the  latter  being  the  one  we  wounded  and 
chased  into  one  of  the  traps  which  he  had  set  in  the  trail. 
This  man  had  killed  goats  and  porcupines  for  bait,  had 
brought  in  fish,  cheese,  honey,  and  molasses;  in  fact,  he 
had  tried  everything  to  be  found  in  the  country,  and 
many  things  that  he  had  packed  in  from  outside;  but  the 
bears  simply  ignored  them  all,  and  seemed  perfectly  con- 
tented to  eat  grass,  dig  roots,  and  nip  off  the  tender  buds 
of  the  soft  maple. 

In  all  our  experience  in  this  region  we  found  but  a 
single  bear  that  had  any  appetite  for  meat,  this  being  the 
old  fellow  that  ate  part  of  the  horse  we  led  in  and  killed 
for  bait.  On  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  remembered  that 
we  detached  a  shoulder  from  the  carcass  of  this  horse, 
dragged  it  across  the  hills  for  two  miles  or  more,  and 
placed  it  on  a  snow  slide  in  full  view  of  camp,  where  we 
could  watch  it  with  the  field-glasses;  and  that,  although 
this  bait  remained  there  until  putrefaction  set  in  and  the 


Food  and  Feeding  221 

bears  kept  the  grass  cropped  close  in  the  little  opening, 
not  one  ever  touched  it,  nor,  so  far  as  we  could  discover, 
did  they  even  smell  of  it  or  look  at  it. 

I  should  say,  unhesitatingly,  that  the  reason  these 
bears  do  not  care  for  meat  is  because  they  have  never 
known  the  taste  of  it.  In  districts  where  game  is  plentiful 
the  bears  have  been  accustomed  to  live  for  a  part  of  the 
time  on  flesh,  and  will  eat  it  whenever  found.  But  where 
they  have  been  forced  back  into  the  remote  fastnesses  of 
the  mountains,  where  meat  and  fish  are  scarcely  to  be  had, 
and  where,  from  the  time  of  their  birth,  they  are  plant 
eaters,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  carnivorous  instinct  is 
not  at  all,  or  but  slightly,  developed. 

Almost  any  mountaineer  will  testify  that  animals  have 
to  be  taught  to  eat  food  different  from  that  to  which  they 
have  been  accustomed.  We  are,  for  instance,  used  to 
thinking  of  the  horse  as  a  grain  eater,  and  most  people 
will  scoff  at  the  idea  of  a  horse  that  is  afraid  of  oats.  Yet 
many  times,  when  no  grazing  was  to  be  had,  I  have  seen 
horses,  that  had  been  caught  up  wild  and  broken  to 
packing,  pull  back  and  snort  with  fright  at  the  sight  of  a 
feed  of  grain,  and  stand  all  night  with  oats  in  front  of 
them  and  refuse  to  eat  them.  So,  I  think,  it  is  with  the 
bear. 

But  aside  from  the  grizzlies  in  one  locality  eating  meat, 
and  those  of  another  refusing  it,  there  are  other  idiosyn- 
crasies in  the  taste  and  food  habits  of  these  animals  that 
teach  us  to  be  careful  how  we  generalize  from  local  ob- 
servation. And  this  lesson  may  well  be  taken  to  heart  by 
both  the  hunter  and  the  field  naturalist.  Above  all  things, 
it  is  important  that,  when  we  make  a  note  or  mention  an 


222  The  Grizzly  Bear 

occurrence,  we  state  the  locality.  All  animals  act  differ- 
ently under  different  conditions,  and  a  knowledge  of  these 
is  necessary  to  draw  proper  conclusions  or  form  just  judg- 
ments. 

All  through  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  there  grow 
three  plants,  commonly  called  the  shooting  star,  the  dog- 
tooth violet,  and  the  spring  beauty.  These  plants  may 
also  be  found  in  the  Selkirks  in  British  Columbia.  In  the 
Bitter  Roots  the  grizzlies  are  very  fond  of  the  leaves  of  the 
shooting  star,  which  somewhat  resemble  the  horse-radish. 
This  plant  grows  on  all  the  marshes,  along  all  the  streams, 
and  in  any  place  that  is  at  all  wet,  and  the  grizzly  feeds 
on  it  more  or  less  all  through  the  summer,  or  until  the 
leaves  get  too  tough.  It  is  particularly  sought  for  by  she 
grizzlies  with  cubs.  But  I  have  never,  in  the  Bitter  Roots, 
known  a  grizzly  bear  to  dig  up  the  bulb-like  roots  of  either 
the  dog-tooth  viol-et  or  the  spring  beauty.  In  British 
Columbia,  on  the  contrary,  I  have  yet  to  find  the  first  leaf 
nipped  by  a  bear  from  the  shooting  star,  while  I  have 
seen  acres  of  ground  torn  up  by  them  for  the  roots  of  the 
other  plants.  Here  the  argument  of  opportunity  and 
environment  fails,  and  I  can  only  record  the  facts  without 
offering  any  explanation. 

The  feeding  time  of  the  grizzly  depends  altogether  on 
the  locality.  In  a  country  where  he  is  hunted  and  dis- 
turbed, he  will  either  leave  the  region  altogether  or  will 
come  out  to  feed  at  night  or  just  at  dusk  or  break  of  day. 
In  localities  where  he  is  free  from  annoyance,  he  will  feed 
up  to  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  from  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  until  dark,  and  perhaps  longer. 

In  the  spring,  when  they  first  come  from  their  dens, 


Food  and  Feeding  223 

the  grizzlies  are  likely  to  be  found  feeding  later  in  the 
morning  and  to  return  earlier  in  the  evening,  and  at  this 
season  I  have  even  seen  them  out  at  all  hours  of  the  day. 
But  later  in  the  season,  after  the  ravenous  appetite  of 
early  spring  has  been  somewhat  appeased,  they  will 
usually,  on  the  one  hand,  be  seen  only  between  four 
o'clock  in  the  evening  and  dark,  and,  on  the  other,  will  not 
remain  out  long  after  the  break  of  day. 

The  grizzly  is  the  only  animal  I  have  ever  hunted 
whose  habits  one  cannot  depend  upon.  The  fact  that  you 
have  seen  him  out  and  feeding  on  berries  every  morning 
for  two  weeks,  at  precisely  eight  o'clock,  is  scant  reason 
for  expecting  to  see  him  to-morrow  at  the  same  time.  It 
would  be  just  like  him  to  then  come  out  at  high  noon — a 
time  when  usually  no  self-respecting  grizzly  would  think 
of  showing  himself.  In  a  way  I  attribute  this  to  the  fact 
that  the  grizzly  is  very  wary  and,  among  other  peculiarities, 
likes  seclusion.  He  will  change  his  routine  instantly  if 
intruded  upon,  and  if  he  is  molested  to  any  extent  will 
leave  his  regular  feeding  grounds  for  others. 

The  grkzly,  as  I  have  said,  does  not  seem  to  be  much 
of  a  traveller.  He  generally,  I  believe,  spends  his  life  in 
a  restricted  area  of  country,  and  likes  to  live  where  he  will 
not  have  to  go  far  for  food.  He  loves  a  dark,  wooded 
canon  near  good  feeding  grounds,  and,  winding  across  this 
canon,  his  trails  will  be  found.  He  is  also  fond  of 
marshes  where  there  is  a  stream,  and  where  the  small 
willows  grow  thick  and  the  grass  heavy.  Near  the  edge 
of  such  a  stream  he  makes  his  bed,  and  here  he  lies  up 
during  the  hot  days  of  summer;  and  not  very  far  away 
will  be  found  the  wallows  where  he  has  rolled  in  the  mud 


224  The  Grizzly  Bear 

to  escape  the  flies.  But  a  grizzly,  when  forced  to,  will 
travel  far  for  the  food  he  craves.  He  will  go  many  miles  to 
feed  on  berries  during  their  season,  if  none  grow  near  his 
own  especial  haunts;  and  in  the  Bitter  Roots  he  makes 
considerable  journeys  to  reach  the  salmon  streams.  The 
farthest  that  I  have  ever  actually  known  an  individual 
grizzly  to  go  is  twenty  miles,  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  they  will  go  much  farther  than  this  if  need  be.  I  have 
repeatedly  seen  a  particular  bear  in  one  locality  year  after 
year,  and  then  found  him,  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  away, 
across  a  divide  or  on  another  plateau,  to  which,  doubtless, 
he  had  moved  for  better  feeding.  I  believe,  however,  that 
they  invariably  return  to  their  old  haunts  for  the  winter. 

It  is  perhaps  necessary,  in  this  connection,  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  as  much  individuality  in 
bears  as  in  dogs  or  horses  or  people.  To  the  unfamiliar 
observer  all  Chinamen  look  alike,  and  so  do  all  bears. 
But  to  me,  as  to  any  one  long  accustomed  to  go  among 
them  and  study  them,  a  bear  previously  seen  and  watched 
is  as  easily  remembered  and  recognized  as  a  man. 

In  the  regions  where  the  grizzly  feeds  upon  the  car- 
casses of  game  winter  killed  or  left  by  hunters,  he  nearly 
always  drags  their  remains,  after  his  first  meal,  to  some 
sheltered  spot,  and  buries  it,  to  keep  the  birds  and  other 
beasts  from  feeding  upon  it.  He  is  so  powerful  that  he 
will  drag  loads  that  seem  incredible  over  the  most  diffi- 
cult ground  and  for  long  distances.  Over  logs  and 
through  thick  underbrush  he  drags  and  lifts  his  burden 
until  he  finds  a  spot  that  exactly  suits  him.  Then  he 
digs  up  the  earth,  places  his  booty  in  the  hole,  and  piles 
logs  and  anything  movable  upon  it  until  he  has  completely 


Food  and  Feeding  225 

covered  it.  Where  the  bears  have  been  little  hunted  it 
is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  secrete  one's  self  near 
one  of  these  caches  and  shoot  the  animal  when  he  returns 
to  feed.  This  is  usually  either  late  in  the  evening  or  in 
the  early  morning,  say  up  to  two  hours  after  daylight. 

I  have  already  described  how  a  grizzly  bear  dragged 
a  bull  elk  carcass  up  an  incline  so  steep  that  it  was  next  to 
impossible  for  a  man  to  climb  up  or  down  without  hang- 
ing to  the  bushes  for  support.  The  elk's  body  could  not 
have  weighed  less  than  five  or  six  hundred  pounds,  yet 
the  bear  seemed  to  have  transported  it  with  ease,  and, 
after  placing  it  behind  a  large  tree  and  in  under  the  low- 
hanging  branches,  he  dug  out  a  hole  in  the  side  of  the 
hill  and,  dragging  up  logs  and  brush,  covered  the  carcass 
completely.  The  reader  is  also  reminded  of  the  game  we 
played  with  the  grizzly  on  Wilson's  Creek,  when  every 
night  he  stole  the  body  of  our  dead  horse,  and  every  day, 
with  infinite  labor,  and  only  by  bringing  elementary  me- 
chanics to  our  aid,  we  brought  it  back  to  its  original 
position. 

It  is  often  affirmed  that  the  grizzly  carries  such  a  bur- 
den by  either  grasping  it  in  his  arms  and  walking  off  on  his 
hind  legs,  or  by  "throwing  it  over  his  shoulder"  (Heaven 
only  knows  how  this  operation  would  be  performed), 
and  so  making  off  with  it.  The  notion  is  of  one  piece 
with  that  that  the  grizzly  embraces  his  enemies  and  hugs 
them  to  death.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  carries  anything  that 
he  can  so  carry  in  his  jaws,  and  burdens  that  are  too  great 
for  that,  he  either  grasps  with  his  teeth  and,  turning  his 
head  sideways,  drags  along  with  him  or,  turning  squarely 
toward  his  find,  backs  away  and  drags  it  after  him. 


226    .  The  Grizzly  Bear 

When  he  comes  to  a  log  or  other  obstruction  he  pulls, 
pushes,  and  boosts  until  he  surmounts  it. 

Grizzlies  have  jaws  like  iron.  In  and  about  old  Indian 
camps,  where  the  old  leg  and  thigh  bones  of  elk  and 
moose  have  been  left,  I  have  seen  these  crushed  into 
fragments,  and  even  ground  into  particles,  by  the  vice- 
like  jaws  of  these  bears;  this,  of  course,  for  the  marrow 
that  was  to  be  found  in  them.  Many  think  that  the 
grizzly  is  a  habitual  hunter  and  killer  of  wild  game;  and 
in  certain  localities,  and  in  times  past,  this  may  possibly 
have  been  true.  This  we  will  discuss  farther  on.  I 
have  never,  however,  in  all  my  experience,  found  a  single 
wild  animal  of  any  kind  whatsoever,  except  the  little  fel- 
lows before  mentioned,  that  I  had  any  reason  to  think 
had  been  killed  by  a  grizzly. 

That  the  grizzly  can,  and  that  easily,  kill  an  elk  or  a 
moose,  there  is  no  sort  of  doubt.  Nor  do  I  deny  that 
such  killings  have  taken  place.  But  I  am  firmly  per- 
suaded that  he  never  attempts  it  unless  it  be  in  cases  of 
emergency  or  where  some  exceptional  circumstances 
lead  up  to  it.  Should  a  grizzly  happen,  for  example,  to 
be  near  a  water  lick  where  these  animals  come  to  drink, 
he  might,  in  one  of  his  impatient  rushes,  strike  down  one 
of  them,  but  the  animals  that  might  be  destroyed  in  this 
way  are  a  negligible  quantity. 

Strangely  enough,  however,  individual  grizzlies  do, 
now  and  again,  turn  "bad"  and  take  to  killing  the  cattle 
of  the  ranchmen.  How  they  acquire  the  habit  it  would 
be  hard  to  say.  Probably  through  some  accident,  or 
by  a  more  than  usual  gift  of  putting  two  and  two  together 
and  arguing  from  a  stolen  quarter  of  beef,  to  a  walking 


Food  and  Feeding  227 

four-quarters  of  the  same.  At  any  rate,  it  is  not  a  race 
habit.  One  grizzly  in  the  neighboring  hills  will  suddenly 
turn  cattle  eater,  and  come  by  stealth  to  satisfy  his  crav- 
ing, just  as  one  tiger  near  a  jungle  village  will  turn  "man- 
eater"  and  come  by  night  to  seek  for  victims.  When 
the  guilty  grizzly  is  slain  the  incident  is  closed. 

James  Capen  Adams  gives  a  most  interesting  descrip- 
tion of  ridding  a  California  ranch  of  one  of  these  depre- 
dating bears,  and  I  have  myself  known  of  several  in- 
stances where  such  losses  were  only  stopped  by  killing 
the  thief.  One  of  these  argues  well  the  tremendous 
muscular  power  of  these  animals.  I  know  one  of  the 
men  who  watched  for  and  killed  the  bear,  and  he  told 
me  that  when,  after  waiting  several  nights,  the  grizzly 
finally  appeared,  they  let  it  have  its  way  before  shooting, 
in  order  to  learn  its  method  of  attack.  It  stole  up  close 
to  a  nearly  full-grown  heifer  and  then,  in  a  sudden  spring, 
threw  one  fore  paw  across  her  neck,  placed  the  other  on 
her  muzzle,  and  drawing  up  one  hind  leg  with  a  single 
backward  shove  of  its  great  claws,  not  only  disembowelled 
her,  but  tore  out  all  her  ribs  on  that  side. 

Nevertheless,  the  grizzly  does  not,  as  far  as  my  obser- 
vations go,  hunt  for  wild  game.  In  certain  parts  of  the 
country,  where  there  are  plenty  of  elk  and  deer,  he,  as 
I  have  already  mentioned,  depends  on  them  to  a  large 
extent  for  his  food  supply;  but — they  must  first  be  killed 
by  the  hunter  or  meet  death  in  some  other  way,  such  as 
being  winter  killed.  The  grizzly  declines  to  do  his  own 
butchering. 

Often,  in  British  Columbia,  I  have  sat  and  watched  a 
grizzly  bear  and  a  little  porcupine  feeding  side  by  side 


228  The  Grizzly  Bear 

on  the  grass  near  the  snow  banks,  neither  one  paying  the 
slightest  attention  to  the  other.  I  have  also,  in  this  same 
locality,  frequently  seen  Rocky  Mountain  goats  feeding 
in  the  same  slide  with  the  grizzlies,  and  have  never  seen 
the  least  evidence  of  a  desire  on  the  bear's  part  to  molest 
the  goats,  or  of  a  tendency  on  the  goat's  part  to  fear  the 
bear.  Again,  years  ago  in  the  Clearwater  country,  in 
Idaho,  I  have,  with  others,  sat  for  hours  watching  the 
elk  and  deer  as  they  came  down  to  the  licks;  and  while 
there  were  many  grizzlies  always  to  be  seen  and  their  tracks 
were  always  plentiful,  we  never  found  that  a  single  animal 
had  been  killed  by  them.  Had  they  cared,  or  been  ac- 
customed to  prey  on  the  elk,  it  would  have  been  an  easy 
matter  for  them  to  hide  behind  a  huge  cedar  and  strike 
one  down.  In  those  days  there  were  hundreds  of  elk 
around  the  licks  at  a  time. 


XXI 

HIS  FIERCENESS 

WE  are  now  arrived  at  a  division  of  our  subject 
where  we  are  to  meet  what,  at  first  sight,  appears 
to  be  a  tangle  of  contradictory  evidence,  and  it  behooves 
us  to  walk  slowly,  to  preserve  an  open  mind,  and  to  keep 
our  eyes  carefully  attentive  to  the  signs  of  the  trail.  On 
the  one  hand,  we  shall  find  the  sincere  convictions  and 
repeated  statements  of  early  writers,  and  a  century  of 
unquestioning  belief  on  the  part  of  the  public.  On  the 
other,  we  shall  find  the  calmer  judgments  of  trained  ob- 
servers, and  the  overwhelming  weight  of  contempora- 
neous experience.  Were  our  fathers  wrong  about  the 
nature  of  the  grizzly  ?  Or  has  the  animal  radically 
changed  in  a  hundred  years  ? 

Personally,  I  believe  that  we  have  to  answer  "Yes" 
to  both  questions;  but  I  am  convinced  that  the  amount 
of  alteration  in  the  nature  of  the  grizzly  is  insignificant 
compared  to  the  extent  to  which  preconceptions  of  early 
hunters  colored  their  judgment. 

Let  me  say,  to  begin  with,  that  twenty-five  years  of 
intercourse  with  these  beasts  has  taught  me  to  regard  them 
with  the  most  profound  respect.  I  would  no  more  pro- 
voke one,  unarmed,  or  rashly  venture  upon  any  action 
that  my  experience  has  taught  me  they  regard  as  calling 

229 


230  The  Grizzly  Bear 

for  self-defence,  than  I  would  commit  suicide.  That 
they  will  not  fight  when  they  think  they  have  to,  no  sane 
man  would  maintain.  That,  when  they  do  fight,  they 
are  not  the  most  formidable  and  doughty  of  antagonists, 
I  have  never  heard  hinted.  But  that  they  habitually  seek 
trouble  when  they  can  avoid  it,  or  that  they  ever  did,  I 
do  not  believe.  Nor,  in  the  authentic  records  upon  which 
this  popular  belief  is  largely  founded,  and  in  which  it 
was  first  put  into  words,  can  we  find  any  facts  calculated 
to  uphold  it. 

On  the  contrary  we  see,  plainly  enough,  that  the  white 
pioneers,  even  before  they  had  seen  a  grizzly,  were  pre- 
pared to  meet  a  dragon,  and  that,  when  they  had  peppered 
a  tough  old  bear  or  two  with  their  pea-gun  ammunition, 
they  found  their  expectations  realized.  That  the  Indians 
regarded  the  grizzly  as  the  king  of  brutes;  that  the  tale 
of  his  terribleness  had  passed  into  their  folk-lore;  that 
"they  never  hunted  them  except  in  parties  of  six  or  more"; 
that  they  gave  greater  honor  to  one  of  their  young  men 
who  had  killed  one  unaided,  than  to  him  who  took  the 
scalp  of  an  enemy,— all  this  we  can  well  believe  and 
understand.  And  that  the  early  explorers  accepted  the 
Indian  verdict  and  thought  it  upheld  by  their  own  ex- 
periences is  no  less  credible.  For  the  grizzly  bear,  pur- 
sued into  his  fastnesses  and  attacked  with  bows  and  ar- 
rows, would  be  terrible  indeed.  And  hostilely  faced  by 
men  armed  with  the  muzzle-loading  smooth-bores  of 
small  calibre  and  still  smaller  penetration,  he  would  be 
an  antagonist  but  slightly  less  formidable.  These  things 
being  so,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  our  prede- 
cessors overlooked  two  salient  features  of  their  expert 


His  Fierceness  231 

ences:  first,  that  they  were  themselves  invariably  the 
attacking  party;  and  second,  that,  even  so,  for  every 
bear  that  stayed  to  fight  them,  there  were  one  or  more 
that  ran  away. 

Let  us  pass  in  rapid  review  the  testimony  of  Lewis 
and  Clark.  On  April  29,  1805,  Captain  Lewis,  with  one 
hunter,  met  "two  white  bears" — their  first.  "Of  the 
strength  and  ferocity  of  this  animal,"  the  journal  pro- 
ceeds, "the  Indians  had  given  us  terrible  accounts." 
(They  had  told  them,  among  other  things,  that  "they 
rather  attack  than  avoid  a  man.")  Yet  "hitherto," 
says  the  journal,  "those  bears  we  had  seen  did  not  appear 
anxious  to  encounter  us,"  and,  when  Captain  Lewis 
and  the  hunter  fired  at  these  two  and  wounded  both, 
"one  of  them  made  his  escape;  the  other  turned  upon 
Captain  Lewis  and  pursued  him  seventy  or  eighty  yards." 

The  next  record  is  that  of  May  5th,  when  "Captain 
Clark  and  one  of  the  hunters  met  the  largest  brown  bear 
we  have  seen.  As  they  fired  it  did  not  attempt  to  attack, 
but  fled  with  the  most  tremendous  roar."  On  May 
nth  Bratton  (the  man  who  had  boils),  wounded  his  bear 
and  was  pursued  by  it  for  half  a  mile.  On  May  I4th 
the  rear  guard  of  the  party  saw  a  large  grizzly  asleep 
some  three  hundred  yards  from  the  bank  of  the  river,  and 
six  of  them  crept  up  within  forty  yards  or  more  and  all  fired 
at  once.  The  furious  animal  charged  them  and  was  killed 
with  difficulty.  On  June  I2th  they  killed  two  large  griz- 
zlies, each  at  the  first  shot.  On  June  I4th  Captain  Lewis 
had  his  experience  with  the  grizzly  that  came  upon  him 
when  his  gun  was  not  loaded,  and,  after  pursuing  him  so 
long  as  he  ran  away,  fled  itself  as  soon  as  he  faced  round 


232  The  Grizzly  Bear 

upon  it.  This  incident  (so  puzzling  to  the  writer  of  the 
journal  and  so  interesting  to  us  with  our  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  species)  we  will  discuss  later  on.  On 
June  2yth  we  find  the  account  of  the  hunters  who  climbed 
a  large  tree  and  raised  a  shout,  whereupon  a  grizzly 
"rushed  toward  them"  and  was  killed.  Also  the  account 
of  a  grizzly  having  come  within  thirty  yards  of  camp  in 
the  night  and  stolen  some  buffalo  meat.  On  June  28th 
"the  white  bears  have  become  exceedingly  troublesome." 
They  "infest  the  camp  at  night."  "They  have  not  at- 
tacked us,  as  our  dog,  which  patrols  all  night,  gives  us 
notice."  Yet  the  party  is  "obliged  to  sleep  with  our 
arms  by  our  sides  for  fear  of  accident."  Then,  further, 
we  have  instances  where  men,  carrying  meat  to  camp, 
have  been  either  frightened  or  confronted  by  bears,  but  no 
actual  mention  of  attack.  And  the  further  accounts  deal 
with  the  grizzly  in  the  mountains  and  on  the  Pacific 
slope  of  the  Rockies,  and  speak  of  them  as  much  less 
fierce  than  those  first  encountered. 

Now  there  is  little  in  these  recorded  facts  that  differs 
materially  from  what  I  should  expect  to  find  among 
grizzlies,  attacked  under  similar  circumstances  with  simi- 
lar weapons  to-day.  It  is  true  that  I  should  expect  even 
fewer  of  them  to  show  fight,  and  it  is  in  this  regard 
that  I  should  feel  inclined  to  answer  "Yes"  to  the  question 
as  to  whether  the  nature  of  the  grizzly  has  changed  in  the 
past  century.  I  have  seen  elaborate  arguments  uphold- 
ing the  theory  that  contact  with  man  has  changed  this 
bear  from  a  savage  and  aggressive  brute  to  a  wary  and 
cautious  animal,  but  my  own  opinion  is  that  contact  with 
man  has  merely  added  to  his  native  caution. 


His    Fierceness  233 

I  have  met  the  grizzly  under  many  circumstances 
and  in  many  places.  I  have  hunted  him  where  he  had 
been  but  little  disturbed,  and  had  seldom  come  into  con- 
tact with  man,  and  I  have  seen  him  change  his  habits 
as  his  range  was  encroached  upon  and  his  existence 
threatened.  But  I  have  never  found  him  the  ferocious 
and  ill-natured  brute  that  he  has  the  reputation  of  being. 
On  the  contrary,  I  have  always  found  him  wary  and 
alert,  ready  to  give  one  the  slip  if  possible  and  able  to 
tax  one's  ingenuity  in  matching  his  cunning.  He  adopts 
new  wiles  as  new  necessities  are  forced  upon  him  and 
becomes  more  cautious  as  greater  caution  is  required; 
but  even  in  the  wildest  and  most  untrodden  portions  of 
his  range  he  is  no  more  on  the  lookout  for  a  scrap  than 
any  other  wild  animal.  I  think  the  fact  that  now  and 
then  an  ugly,  pugnacious  brute  is  encountered  is  merely 
the  exception  which,  if  it  does  not  prove,  certainly  does 
not  invalidate  the  rule. 

I  am  very  far  from  wishing  to  assert  that  the  grizzly 
will  not  fight.  That  would  not  only  be  untrue  but  would 
be  a  most  dangerous  assumption  to  act  upon  when  deal- 
ing with  him.  When  it  becomes  necessary,  or  when  he 
thinks  it  is  necessary,  there  is  no  animal  of  his  size  that 
can  put  up  a  fight  to  equal  him.  Nothing  but  instant 
death  on  his  part  or,  occasionally,  a  quick,  powerful 
and  effective  counter  attack,  will  arrest  one  of  his  mad 
charges.  When  brought  to  bay  by  dogs  it  is  very  danger- 
ous to  go  near  him,  as  he  will  then  charge  everything 
that  moves  and  every  bush  that  shakes.  And  a  she 
grizzly  with  cubs  is  at  all  times  an  uncertain  customer. 

But  there  are  not  half  a  dozen  instances  on  record 


234  The  Grizzly  Bear 

where  men  have  been  attacked  by  the  grizzly  bear  in 
which  the  offender,  if  arraigned  before  a  jury  of  his  peers, 
could  not  have  successfully  maintained  a  plea  of  self- 
defence.  Of  course,  in  judging  the  bears,  one  must  take 
into  consideration  the  view-point  of  the  bear.  A  mother 
with  cubs  who  charges  an  intruder  approaching  too  close 
to  her;  a  sleeping  bear  over  whom  a  man  stumbles  in  a 
wood  and  who  strikes  him  down, — these  must  be  given 
the  benefit  of  their  own  doubts. 

I  do  not  think  that  this  aspect  of  the  grizzly's  nature 
can  be  better  summed  up  than  by  Dr.  Hornaday's  ex- 
cellent dictum:  "The  grizzly's  temper  is  defensive,  not 
aggressive;  and,  unless  the  animal  is  cornered,  or  thinks 
he  is  cornered,  he  always  flees  from  man." 

In  short,  the  notion  that  the  grizzly  roams  about 
seeking  for  whomsoever  he  may  devour,  is  pure  nonsense, 
and  that,  ordinarily,  he  will  attack  on  sight,  I  believe  to 
be  equally  a  myth.  Nevertheless,  as  far  as  we  can  judge, 
those  animals  that  lived  a  century  ago  along  the  banks 
of  the  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  Rivers  in  Montana, 
seem  to  have  been,  as  Lewis  and  Clark  declare  them, 
more  courageous  and  less  wary  than  others  of  their  species 
found  elsewhere,  either  then  or  since. 

These  writers  ascribe  this  to  their  inhabiting  a  game 
country  and  having  become  used  to  slaughter.  But  we 
are  wholly  unable  to  judge  how  far  their  evident  belief 
that  these  bears  preyed  habitually  on  the  buffalo  and  other 
game  is  of  a  piece  with  their  other  misconceptions  of 
them.  They  met  them  in  the  neighborhood  of  buffalo, 
just  as  I  have  met  them  in  the  neighborhood  of  elk;  and 
that  they  were  flesh  eaters  is  proved  by  their  stealing 


His  Fierceness  235 

meat  as,  many  a  time,  their  descendants  have  proved 
the  same  fact  to  my  inconvenience.  But  beyond  this  the 
evidence  is  pure  hearsay.  However,  six  hunters  having 
approached  unnoticed  to  within  forty  paces  of  a  sleeping 
grizzly  is  pretty  good  evidence  of  that  animal's  sense  of 
security,  and  another  grizzly's  having  rushed  out  to  in- 
vestigate the  shouts  of  men  in  a  tree  proves  the  same  thing, 
if  nothing  more. 

Whether  they  killed  buffalo  or  not,  however,  they 
were  believed  guilty  of  other  acts  of  which  we  know 
them  to  have  been  innocent.  We  can  see  from  several 
entries  in  the  journal,  the  wholly  natural  but  wholly  mis- 
taken trend  of  the  writer's  convictions.  The  bears,  they 
tell  us,  "infested  their  camp  at  night" — and  many  a  time 
have  I  been  able  to  say  the  same — but  the  writer  evidently 
regarded  the  camp's  immunity  from  "attack"  as  due  to 
the  watchfulness  of  the  camp  dog;  whereas,  if  the  bears 
had  really  been  bent  on  slaughter,  and  had  not  been 
merely  the  prowling  thieves  and  curious  investigators 
they  were,  the  dog  would  have  been  but  an  appetizer  for 
their  feast. 

On  one  of  my  first  hunts  for  grizzlies  we  were  camped 
beside  a  little  stream  which  ran  down  the  mountain  to 
quite  a  large  tract  of  flat  land  in  a  kind  of  a  canon.  This 
creek  was  lined  along  both  its  banks  with  the  black  haw, 
wild  cherry,  and  Sarvis  berry,  and  we  had  hunted  through 
these  thickets  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  shot  at  the  bears, 
whose  numbers  could  be  readily  inferred  from  the  way 
the  bushes  were  bent,  broken,  and  twisted,  and  from  the 
great  number  of  tracks  to  be  seen  along  the  creek.  After 
spending  two  days  at  this  kind  of  hunting  and  not  having 


236  The  Grizzly  Bear 

any  success,  we  decided  to  move  up  near  the  head  of  the 
creek  in  the  mountains,  as  we  knew  that  the  bears  lived 
up  there  and  came  down  at  night  to  feed  on  the  fruit. 
We  accordingly  took  our  camp  outfit,  which  consisted 
of  a  frying-pan  and  our  blankets,  together  with  a  little 
"grub"  and  the  saddle  horses,  and,  going  as  far  up  the 
mountains  as  we  could  with  the  horses,  bivouacked  near 
the  headwaters  of  the  stream.  We  hunted  the  mountain 
all  day  and,  while  we  did  not  get  a  shot,  we  saw  eleven 
bears,  and  at  night  we  returned  to  where  we  had  left  the 
horses,  built  a  small  fire  close  to  the  creek,  ate  such  food 
as  we  had  brought  along,  and  then  rolled  ourselves  in 
our  blankets  and  were  soon  asleep. 

Some  time  in  the  night  I  was  awakened  by  the  plung- 
ing and  snorting  of  the  horses,  and,  as  I  listened,  I  could 
hear  the  breaking  of  small  twigs  beneath  the  low  bank 
of  the  creek,  which  was  not  more  than  twenty  feet  away 
from  where  we  were  lying.  Then  I  heard  the  horses 
break  their  picket  ropes  and  lope  away  into  the  night,  and 
I  lay  there,  wondering  if  any  of  the  other  fellows  were 
awake.  There  were  four  of  us  in  the  party,  all  sleeping 
against  a  fallen  tree,  but  no  two  of  us  under 'the  same 
blanket.  The  first  sound  passed  away  down  the  stream, 
and  soon,  far  up  the  creek,  I  heard  more  snapping  of 
limbs,  then  an  interval  of  silence,  then  the  scuff-scuff  of 
some  heavy  animal  as  it  came  along  down  the  trail. 
And  the  shuffling  feet  among  the  pine  needles  came  nearer 
and  nearer  until  it  passed  not  more  than  ten  feet  from  me. 
I  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief  and  started  listening  again, 
and  soon  I  heard  another.  And  there  I  lay  while  four 
bears  passed,  and  as  I  was  on  my  first  hunt  for  grizzlies, 


His  Fierceness  237 

and,  of  course,  thought  of  all  the  bear  stories  I  had  ever 
heard  or  read,  I  fully  expected,  as  each  bear  passed  me 
by,  that  the  next  would  be  looking  for  just  such  an  in- 
nocent, unsuspecting  idiot  as  I  felt  myself  to  be.  But, 
strange  as  it  appeared  to  us  next  morning,  none  of  us 
had  been  molested;  and,  although  one  of  the  party  de- 
clared that  a  bear  had  stepped  over  the  log  near  his  head 
(he  had  shrunk  into  his  blanket  awaiting  in  terror  the  at- 
tack that  never  came),  and  the  huge  tracks  were  all 
about  us,  the  bears  had  simply,  in  passing  down  the  creek 
to  their  feeding  grounds,  run  into  and  through  our  camp, 
which  we  had  foolishly  pitched  right  in  their  path. 

But  the  bears  did  not  return  that  way.  And,  although 
we  camped  in  this  same  place  for  two  more  nights,  they 
never  used  this  trail  again  while  we  were  there.  The 
horses,  which  were  evidently  alarmed  by  the  smell  of  the 
bears  as  they  passed  along,  had  broken  their  ropes,  fled 
out  of  harm's  way,  and  then  stopped  and  gone  to  grazing. 
We  found  them  only  a  short  distance  away  and  the  bears 
had  paid  no  attention  to  them. 

Since  then,  in  sleeping  in  the  open  near  their  feeding 
grounds,  I  have  often  heard  grizzlies  in  the  night;  and 
have  often  had  them  "infest"  more  formal  camps,  coming 
to  steal  and  hunt  for  meat  or  other  food.  Indeed,  as  al- 
ready told,  I  have  had  hard  work  at  times  to  protect  my 
supplies  from  them.  But  although  it  has  been  mighty 
seldom  that  I  had  a  dog  around,  I  have  always  enjoyed 
the  same  immunity  from  attack  as  did  my  earliest  prede- 
cessors in  grizzly-bear  study. 

It  is  also  quite  evident  from  the  journal  of  Lewis  and 
Clark  that  they  unquestionably  assumed,  whenever  a 


238  The  Grizzly  Bear 

grizzly  approached  or  followed  a  man,  that  he  did  so 
with  sinister  purpose,  and  they  "dared  not  send  one 
man  alone  to  any  distance,  particularly  if  he  had  to  pass 
through  brushwood."  But  we  know  now  that  the  grizzly 
is  chock-full  of  curiosity,  and  that  one  of  his  habits  is  to 
follow  up  any  trail  that  puzzles  or  interests  him,  be  it  of 
man  or  beast.  This  trait  has  been  noted  and  miscon- 
strued by  many  of  the  early  commentators,  and  even 
Adams,  in  speaking  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  grizzly,  says: 
"He  is  more  disposed  to  attack  man  than  the  same  species 
in  other  regions,  and  has  often  been  known  to  follow  on 
the  human  track  for  several  hours." 

So  often  have  I  seen  this  curiosity  and  proved  it  to  be 
innocent,  that  I  have  no  fear  whatever  of  these  animals 
when  indulging  this  weakness  of  theirs.  Time  and  again 
I  have  allowed  one  to  approach  within  a  few  yards  of  me, 
and  no  calm  observer  who  had  watched  a  bear  defying 
his  own  caution  to  satisfy  his  own  inquisitiveness,  could 
mistake  the  nature  of  his  approach.  But  a  man,  filled 
with  a  belief  in  the  grizzly  as  a  ravening  and  savage 
monster,  could,  on  the  other  hand,  hardly  fail  to  mistake 
his  intentions.  The  accompanying  photograph  shows  a 
young  bear  that  had  got  scent  of  my  camera,  and  had 
turned  out  of  his  way  to  see  what  the  scent  might  mean. 
One  can  see  his  companion  in  the  background  following 
the  trail.  That  he  looks  savage  I  think  you  will  agree. 
In  short,  you  would  "hate  to  meet  that  on  a  dark  night." 
And  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  half  scared  and  wholly  curi- 
ous, he  was  ready  to  bolt  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  did 
bolt  the  moment  the  flash  terminated  his  stalk. 

Under  such  circumstances  as  these  my  own  rule  of 


His  Fierceness  239 

conduct  is  a  simple  one.  If  a  grizzly  approaches  me 
knowing  that  I  am  there — or  that  something  is  there  that 
he  wants  to  identify — I  have  no  fear  of  him;  but  I  have 
a  very  wholesome  fear  of  allowing  one  to  approach  me 
unwittingly,  so  that  a  sudden  discovery  of  me  might 
startle  him  or  appear  to  him  like  an  attack.  If  one  re- 
treats before  a  curious  grizzly  the  chances  are  that  he 
will  follow,  and  then,  to  a  misinformed  observer,  his  in- 
tention of  foul  play  seems  proved  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt. 

These  facts  being  understood,  it  is  most  interesting  to 
recall  the  experiences  of  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis  on 
June  14,  1805.  Certainly  a  braver  man  than  Captain 
Lewis  never  faced  a  bear,  and  this  fact  (knowing  what 
we  know)  adds  an  element  of  humor  to  the  scene.  On 
that  day,  it  will  be  recalled,  Captain  Lewis  had  shot  a 
young  buffalo,  and,  without  having  recharged  his  muzzle- 
loader,  was  waiting  for  the  animal  to  bleed  to  death. 

Suddenly  "he  beheld  a  large  brown  bear  which  was 
stealing  on  him  unperceived  and  was  already  within 
twenty  paces."  Remember,  please,  what  the  captain 
had  been  told  about  this  animal;  remember  how  long  it 
took  to  reload  the  gun  he  carried;  look  again  at  the  photo- 
graph of  a  curious  grizzly  "stealing  up  unperceived/'  and 
imagine  his  state  of  mind!  He  was  on  an  "open,  level 
plain — not  a  bush  or  a  tree  within  three  hundred  yards." 
The  river  bank  was  low  and  offered  no  concealment. 
There  was  hope  only  in  flight,  and  not  much  hope  in  that. 
In  this  dilemma  the  captain  "  thought  of  retreating  at  a  quick 
walk  as  fast  as  the  bear  advanced,  but  as  soon  as  he  turned 
the  bear  ran  open  mouthed  and  at  full  speed  upon  him." 


240  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Now  Captain  Lewis  was  a  brave  man  and  likewise 
a  truthful  one.  We  do  not,  for  an  instant,  question 
his  complete  sincerity.  But,  in  view  of  the  sequel,  we 
may,  perhaps,  query  the  "open  mouthed "  and  question 
the  "full  speed."  For,  starting  with  a  lead  of  twenty 
paces,  Captain  Lewis  was  still  twenty  feet  ahead  at  the 
end  of  the  race,  and  an  "open-mouthed  bear  at  full  speed" 
would  have  had  him  in  six  jumps.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
however,  the  captain,  when  he  had  run  eighty  yards, 
finding  that  the  bear  was  gaining,  bethought  him  that 
he  might  stand  a  better  show  if  the  bear  had  to  attack 
him  swimming. 

"He  therefore  turned  short,  plunged  into  the  water, 
and  facing  about,  presented  the  point  of  his  espontoon. 
The  bear  arrived  at  the  water's  edge  within  twenty  feet 
of  him,  but  as  soon  as  he  put  himself  in  this  posture  of 
defence  the  bear  seemed  frightened  and,  wheeling  about, 
retreated  with  as  much  precipitation  as  he  had  pursued. 
Captain  Lewis  returned  to  the  shore  and  observed  him 
run  with  great  speed,  sometimes  looking  back  as  if  he 
expected  to  be  pursued  till  he  reached  the  woods." 

Now  it  may  be  thought  that  even  a  ferocious  bear  might 
be  terrified  by  the  "presented  point  of  an  espontoon"; 
but  having  myself  never  owned  one  of  these  mysterious 
weapons,  and  having,  nevertheless,  seen  scores  of  grizzlies 
act  for  all  the  world  as  this  one  did  in  its  retreat,  I  do  not 
believe  that  this  terrible  engine  of  destruction  (not  men- 
tioned, by  the  way,  in  the  Standard  Dictionary)  had 
anything  to  do  with  it.  Indeed,  I  have  no  manner  of 
doubt  that  if  the  captain  had  thought  of  his  espontoon 
in  the  first  instance,  or  if  he  had  so  much  as  waved  a 


His  Fierceness  241 

hand  above  his  head,  the  encounter  would  have  ended 
then  and  there. 

The  description  given  by  Drummond,  the  botanist, 
of  his  experiences  with  grizzlies  in  the  Rockies  in  1826 
coincides  exactly  with  my  own  observations  of  these  ani- 
mals fifty  years  later.  He  noted  their  curiosity — often 
came  upon  them  standing  up  to  look  at  him — but  found 
that  if  he  made  a  noise  with  his  specimen-box  "or  even 
waved  his  hand"  they  ran  away. 

One  glimpse,  too,  we  get  of  the  actual  descendants 
of  the  Missouri  River  bottom  grizzlies  of  Lewis  and  Clark; 
and  this,  as  far  as  it  goes,  tends  to  suggest  that  fifty  years 
had  left  them  much  as  they  were  when  first  encountered. 
The  story  is  told  over  the  signature  "Montana,"  in  the 
issue  of  Forest  and  Stream,  of  December  12,  1903.  It 
seems  that  on  May  21,  1860,  a  party  from  the  Ameri- 
can Fur  Company's  post  at  Fort  Benton  camped  on  the 
site  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  camp  of  May  14,  1805.  This 
party  included  Malcolm  Clark,  trader,  a  big  giant  of  a 
fellow;  John  Newbert,  tailor,  and  one  Carson,  cordelier; 
and  Clark,  having  followed  a  grizzly  into  the  woods,  came 
upon  him  standing  up  to  look  back  at  him,  and  shot  him 
high  up  through  the  lungs.  Clark  was  armed  with  a 
Hawkins  muzzle-loading  rifle,  shooting  a  ball  thirty  to 
the  pound.  The  wounded  bear  charged  instantly,  knocked 
the  clubbed  rifle  from  Clark's  hands,  and,  felling  him  with 
a  blow  of  his  armored  paw,  rushed  on.  Clark,  whose 
skull  was  fractured,  fell  in  his  tracks;  but  his  compan- 
ions, waiting  at  the  edge  of  the  timber,  killed  the  bear 
as  it  came  out,  and  then,  bearing  Clark  to  the  canoe,  car- 
ried him  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  down  the  river  to 


242  The  Grizzly  Bear 

Fort  Union,  where  a  surgeon  trepanned  his  skull  and  he 
recovered. 

In  1878  an  English  sportsman,  named  Andrew  Wil- 
liamson, visited  Colorado  in  search  of  big  game,  and,  in 
an  account  of  his  experiences,  afterward  published, 
shows  himself  to  have  been  a  keen  observer.  In  his 
chapter  on  the  grizzly  he  says:  "Though  at  least  one- 
half  of  the  stories  current  in  America  as  to  the  ferocity 
of  the  grizzly  bear  do  not  deserve  credit,  yet  ...  he 
must  be  regarded  as  by  far  the  most  formidable  of  the 
wild  animals  in  America,  .  .  .  one  the  sportsman  who 
has  not  thorough  confidence  in  his  aim  and  his  ability  to 
keep  cool  had  better,  when  encountered,  let  go  in  peace. 
He  will,  however,  if  left  alone,  unless  suddenly  stumbled 
on  at  close  quarters  (when  he  will  get  on  his  hind  legs 
with  a  'Hough!  hough!'  calculated  to  try  the  strongest 
nerves)  or  if  it  be  a  female  with  cubs,  rarely  if  ever  attack 
man,  but  will,  on  the  contrary,  beat  a  retreat  with  all  the 
haste  he  can." 

Mr.  Williamson's  method  of  hunting,  developed  through 
his  observing  that  the  grizzly  in  that  region  "seemed  to 
prefer,  when  he  could  get  it,  the  carcass  of  any  dead  ani- 
mal, no  matter  how  putrid,"  was  to  put  a  bait  near  a  trail 
and  watch  from  a  place  of  concealment.  But  the  grizzlies 
were  altogether  too  cunning  to  fall  into  this  sort  of  am- 
bush, and  he  repeatedly  mentions  finding,  by  the  tracks 
in  the  snow,  where  they  had  waited  for  his  departure,  fol- 
lowed on  his  trail  till  k  left  the  woods,  and  then  returned 
to  eat  his  bait. 

Mr.  Williamson  finally  took  a  leaf  out  of  their  own 
book,  tracked  one  of  them  through  the  snow,  and  killed 


His  Fierceness  243 

it  by  a  single  shot  between  the  eyes.  Moreover  (he  was 
a  man  after  my  own  heart),  he  had  an  8  X  10  camera 
with  him.  and,  although  this  was  in  the  days  of  wet-plate 
photography,  when  he  had  got  his  bear,  he  packed  his 
apparatus  to  the  spot,  set  up  a  tent,  and  built  a  fire  to  pre- 
pare his  emulsion,  and  took  an  excellent  picture  of  the 
dead  animal  that  he  reproduces  in  his  book. 

The  belief  seems  to  be  firmly  established  in  the  popu- 
lar mind  that  the  grizzly  is  markedly  more  pugnacious 
and  aggressive  during  the  mating  season  than  at  other 
times.  However,  not  only  has  the  personal  experience  of 
many  years  led  me  to  believe  this  idea  to  be  unfounded, 
but  I  know  of  only  a  single  recorded  instance  that  can, 
even  remotely,  be  said  to  uphold  the  claim. 

This  is  the  experience  of  Drummond  the  botanist, 
who,  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1826,  in  the  Rockies,  saw 
a  male  grizzly  caressing  a  female.  Soon  after  he  noticed 
that  they  came  toward  him,  but  whether  by  accident  or 
to  attack  he  did  not  wait  to  see,  but  climbed  a  tree.  He 
then  shot  the  female,  "whereupon  the  enraged  male  rushed 
up  to  his  tree  and  reared  against  it,  but  did  not  try  to 
climb."  The  bear  then  returned  to  his  fallen  mate  and 
Drummond  shot  him  also. 

Now  here,  as  usual,  the  witness  was  the  attacking 
party,  and  the  bear's  pugnacity  only  developed  after  the 
overt  act;  so  that,  although  it  is  possible  that  the  same 
grizzly,  if  disturbed  and  fired  upon  while  feeding  instead 
of  love-making,  would  have  run  away,  the  evidence  is 
somewhat  slight  to  uphold  a  sweeping  statement  in  re- 
gard to  the  species. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  James  Capen  Adams's 


244  The  Grizzly  Bear 

description,  already  quoted  in  full,  of  the  peaceful  and 
repeated  visits  to  his  camp  by  Lady  Washington's  lover. 
This  also  is  an  isolated  incident  and  no  general  deductions 
should  be  made  from  it.  But  as  the  two  occurrences 
stand  face  to  face  and,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  make  up  the 
whole  of  the  direct  testimony  in  the  case,  we  are  scarcely 
warranted  in  finding  a  verdict  against  the  grizzly. 

As  for  myself,  I  have  been  in  the  wilds  during  the 
mating  season  of  these  animals  in  many  different  years,  and 
in  many  different  parts  of  their  range,  and  I  have  not  only 
invariably  found  them  as  hard  to  locate  and  as  difficult 
to  approach  at  this  time  as  at  any  other,  but  in  the  few 
instances  when  I  have  seen  anything  bearing  on  the  point 
under  discussion,  the  evidence  has  borne  against  the  as- 
sumption of  any  added  fierceness  on  their  part. 

Adams  speaks  of  the  grizzly  as  terrible  if  wounded 
or  cornered,  and,  using  as  he  did  the  ineffectual  weapons 
of  the  fifties,  he  had  many  hand-to-hand  encounters  with 
them.  Yet  he  tells  of  many  that  ran  away,  and  of  one 
that  even  ran  away  from  her  cubs  to  get  out  of  the  way 
of  danger.  I  have  myself  known  two  that  ran  away 
and  left  cubs  to  their  fate,  but  this  is  the  rare  exception, 
and  most  of  them  will  fight  for  their  young  to  the  last 
spark  of  life.  As  for  the  others,  I  have  always  found  about 
as  much  individuality  among  grizzlies  as  among  people. 
One,  if  wounded,  will  fight  to  the  last  gasp,  and  the  next 
will  try  with  its  last  breath  to  crawl  away. 

But  I  have  never  known  of  a  single  instance  where 
one  of  these  bears  turned  out  of  his  way,  unprovoked,  to 
attack  a  human  being.  I  have  known  several  cases  where 
men  have  been  wounded,  and  one  instance  where  a  man 


His  Fierceness  245 

was  killed  by  a  Rocky  Mountain  grizzly,  but  no  one  of 
these  cases  would  I  call  an  unprovoked  attack. 

The  man  who  was  killed  was  out  prospecting  and  car- 
ried no  weapons  whatever.  He  had  a  miner's  gold  pan 
in  his  hand,  and  he  and  his  companion  were  saunter- 
ing along  through  some  down  timber.  In  stepping  over 
a  windfall  of  logs  he  almost  stumbled  on  an  old  she 
grizzly  with  cubs  who  was  lying  beneath  the  jam,  and  as 
he  turned  to  run  the  old  bear  rose,  dealt  him  a  blow 
with  her  powerful  paw  that  smashed  his  skull,  and  im- 
mediately hustled  her  cubs  out  of  the  logs  and  made  off 
at  a  fast  pace,  paying  no  attention  whatever  to  the  other 
miner,  who  was  standing  a  few  feet  away,  bewildered  at 
the  misfortune  of  his  companion.  I  would  certainly  not 
regard  this  as  an  unprovoked  attack,  and  should  expect 
the  same  thing  to  happen  to  me  should  I,  by  accident, 
commit  the  same  indiscretion.  Fortunately  the  grizzly 
is  so  alert  that  it  is  not  once  in  a  man's  lifetime  that  he 
would  be  able  to  approach  thus  near  to  one  without  the 
latter's  knowing  it.  And,  whether  they  have  young  or 
not,  if  they  are  aware  of  any  one's  approach,  they  will 
scurry  away  long  before  the  intruder  has  any  chance  of 
seeing  them. 

In  the  other  case,  the  injured  men  were  hunters  who 
had  followed  bears  into  the  thicket  after  wounding  them, 
and  almost  any  wounded  animal  will  attack  one  who  is 
foolish  enough  to  trail  it  into  thick  brush  and  down 
timber.  The  worst  thumping  I  ever  got  (it  was  among 
my  earliest  experiences)  was  from  a  mule  deer  that  I 
approached  when  lying  wounded  in  the  brush.  I  was 
hurled  through  the  air  for  twenty  feet  or  more,  and  then 


246  The  Grizzly  Bear 

and  there  learned  the  wisdom  of  keeping  away  from 
wounded  animals. 

If,  at  the  present  time,  the  grizzly  was  prone  to  at- 
tack people  at  sight,  it  seems  evident  that  more  hunters 
would  see  them  when  seeking  them  in  their  chosen  terri- 
tory. There  are  scores  of  sportsmen  who  would  give 
almost  any  amount  to  get  a  shot  at  one  of  these  "  ferocious 
and  awful  monarchs  of  the  woods";  and  they  hunt  year 
after  year  in  countries  where  bear  tracks  are  more  plenti- 
ful than  those  of  deer.  But  the  wary  brutes  remain  out 
of  sight  and,  for  the  most  part,  manage  to  keep  a  whole 
skin.  I  once  had  a  man  out  with  me  who  said,  when 
speaking  of  the  bear  tracks  to  be  seen,  that  if  he  were  in 
a  country  where  there  was  one  deer  track  to  the  fifty 
grizzly  tracks  that  he  saw,  he  would  guarantee  to  kill  six 
deer  a  day. 

To  sum  up,  then,  it  seems  to  be  beyond  doubt  that  a 
century's  contact  with  men  armed  with  rifles  has  rendered 
the  grizzly  bear  a  more  wary  and  cautious  animal.  It 
would,  indeed,  be  strange  if  this  were  not  so,  for  the  griz- 
zly is  quick  to  learn  and  has  had  innumerable  oppor- 
tunities of  learning;  and  there  have  been  thirty  or  forty 
generations  during  which  his  individual  lessons  have  been 
moulding  the  instinct  of  the  race.  But  that,  during  this 
time,  the  grizzly  has  changed  from  a  bloodthirsty  and 
ferocious  tyrant  to  an  inoffensive  minder  of  his  own  busi- 
ness, "defensive,  not  aggressive,"  I  can  find  nothing  in 
the  records  to  show,  nor  do  I  for  a  moment  believe. 


XXII 
HIS  VITALITY 

ANOTHER  long-asserted  and  long-allowed  claim 
made  for  the  grizzly  relates  to  his  marvellous  vi- 
tality. The  literature  of  the  subject  bristles  with  state- 
ments in  regard  to  his  tenacity  of  life,  his  ability  to  disre- 
gard awful  wounds,  and  the  amount  of  lead  with  which 
he  will  get  away. 

The  grizzly  is  now  comparatively  scarce,  the  condi- 
tions in  regard  to  weapons  have  greatly  altered,  and  alto- 
gether a  discussion  of  the  subject  is  not  free  from  diffi- 
culties; but  I  think  that  a  careful  examination  of  the 
statements  of  the  most  reliable  of  old-time  hunters,  a  con- 
sideration of  the  conditions,  both  of  mind  and  of  weapons, 
under  which  they  operated,  and  a  comparison  of  these 
with  conditions  as  we  find  them  to-day,  will  enable  us  to 
arrive  at  a  very  fair  conclusion. 

We  may,  to  begin  with,  throw  out  of  court  entirely 
the  writings  of  the  romancers.  They  naturally  seized  upon 
this  alleged  attribute  of  the  grizzly  as  one  that  lent  itself 
admirably  to  their  purposes;  and  looked  upon  it  as  a  waste 
of  good  material  to  kill  a  bear  with  anything  less  than  a 
dozen  shots  and  a  few  knife  wounds,  and  to  have  the  rid- 
dled animal  pursue  the  hero  for  a  mile  or  so,  and  kill  at 

247 


248  The  Grizzly  Bear 

least  one  of  his  companions  before  itself  giving  up  the 
ghost.  The  grizzly  was  their  opportunity  and  they  used 
him  nobly. 

But  there  is  abundant  testimony  remaining,  and  that 
of  a  more  impressive  kind.  Lewis  and  Clark  hardly 
ever  mentioned  killing  one  of  these  animals  without  dwell- 
ing on  the  ability  of  the  species  to  take  punishment;  and 
it  is  made  clearly  evident  that  this,  as  much  as  any  other 
fact,  contributed  to  the  awe  with  which  they  regarded 
them.  "The  wonderful  power  of  life  which  these  ani- 
mals possess,"  says  the  journal,  "renders  them  dread- 
ful, their  very  track  in  the  mud  or  sand  ...  is  alarming, 
and  we  had  rather  encounter  two  Indians  than  meet  a 
single  brown  bear." 

Now,  before  discussing  the  weapons  used  by  these 
early  hunters  and  estimating  the  effect  of  their  very  real 
dangers  upon  their  judgment,  I  wish  to  call  attention  to 
one  or  two  facts,  and  to  one  or  two  inferences  that  seem 
to  me  to  flow  from  them. 

To  begin  with,  I  have  never  seen  it  claimed  that  the 
grizzly  has  degenerated  in  this  matter  of  vitality.  Every 
writer  whose  works  I  have  read,  while  appearing  to  admit 
the  accuracy  of  early  observations,  takes  it  for  granted 
that  the  perfecting  of  the  modern  rifle  accounts  for  any 
discrepancies  that  may  appear  between  those  observations 
and  our  own. 

Next,  I  want  to  note  that  if  the  grizzly  really  had,  in 
the  early  days,  exceeded  all  the  other  animals  of  his  habi- 
tat in  his  resistance  to  wounds  and  in  his  ability  to  with- 
stand the  shock  of  them,  this  difference  between  him  and 
them  should  have  become  more  marked,  not  less  so,  as 


His  Vitality  249 

these  shocks  became  greater  and  these  wounds  more 
grievous.  Yet  I  have  killed  well  over  a  hundred  grizzlies 
without  finding  them  any  more  tenacious  of  life  than 
many  other  wild  animals.  They  cannot  stand  any  more 
punishment  than  the  deer  or  the  elk,  and  they  cannot  be- 
gin to  stand  up  under  the  rain  of  bullets  that  an  old 
Rocky  Mountain  goat  will  survive. 

Finally,  I  would  suggest  that  it  is  only  human  nature 
(especially  when  badly  armed)  to  be  more  impressed 
with  the  vitality  of  an  animal  which,  when  wounded,  takes 
the  offensive,  than  with  the  vitality  of  one  that,  when 
similarly  wounded,  invariably  runs  away. 

Of  course,  the  question  of  armament  is  not  one  to  be 
lost  sight  of  in  reviewing  the  testimony  of  the  early  hunt- 
ers. Their  rifles  were  mostly  smooth-bores  of  small 
calibre,  not  larger  than  the  present  .32,  carrying  bullets 
in  many  cases  seventy  to  the  pound,  and  all  of  them 
were  muzzle-loaders  with  no  definite  charges  of  powder. 
Their  penetration,  variable  under  such  circumstances, 
was  always  slight  as  compared  with  the  present  perfected 
weapons,  and  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  drive  a  ball 
through  the  shoulders  of  a  tough  old  grizzly  or  even  of  a 
young  one. 

Armed  with  such  a  weapon  it  was  necessary  to  ap- 
proach very  near  to  one's  quarry,  the  chances  of  killing 
a  large  animal  with  one  shot  were  small,  and  it  took  time 
to  reload.  And  the  wounded  grizzly  was  a  fighter. 

Now  it  is  really  not  at  all  distinctive  of  the  grizzly 
that  one  attacked  with  weapons  of  small  range  and  pene- 
tration should,  even  though  "having  five  balls  in  the 
lungs  and  other  wounds,"  swim  half-way  across  a  river 


250  The  Grizzly  Bear 

and  survive  twenty  minutes;  or  that  one  shot  once  through 
the  lungs  should  go  a  mile,  lie  up  in  the  woods,  and  be 
found  "  still  perfectly  alive,"  an  hour  later.  Every  hunter 
of  elks  or  goats  could  match  these  instances  with  others 
at  least  equally  remarkable.  But  these  animals  run  away. 

If  one  thinks  to  lose  one's  life  by  an  ineffectual  shot, 
the  refusal  of  the  animal  to  drop  at  the  first  fire  is  far  more 
impressive  than  if  one  only  thinks  to  lose  a  deer.  The 
difference  is  psychological,  and  lies  not  in  the  comparative 
vitalities  of  the  wounded  animals,  but  in  the  varying  ef- 
fects of  this  vitality  on  the  man  behind  the  gun. 

After  giving  due  weight,  however,  to  these  considera- 
tions, I  am  still  of  the  opinion  that  many  old  hunters  were 
inclined  to  draw  the  long  bow  when  it  came  to  recount- 
ing their  experiences  with  grizzlies.  Take  any  old  hunt- 
ers, in  either  America  or  the  Dark  Continent,  and  some 
stories  they  tell  beget  serious  and  even  amused  reflection. 
In  some  of  Gerard's  tales  of  lion  hunting  in  Africa,  for 
instance,  the  grizzly  bear  is  put  completely  out  of  coun- 
tenance. In  one  case  this  writer  tells  of  a  lion  hunt  in 
which  from  two  to  three  hundred  persons  took  part.  In 
half  a  day's  shooting  five  hundred  shots  were  fired,  one 
man  was  carried  away  dead,  six  were  crippled,  and  the 
lion  was  still  doing  business  at  the  old  stand.  This 
either  means  that  the  hunters  were  incredibly  poor  shots, 
that  their  ammunition  was  worthless,  or  that  the  pen  is 
mightier  than  the  rifle. 

As  already  stated,  most  of  my  grizzly-bear  shooting 
has  been  done  with  a  .45  single-shot  rifle.  I  loaded 
the  shells  myself  and  used  a  hundred  grains  of  powder 
with  swaged  lead  bullets  weighing  six  hundred  grains. 


His  Vitality  251 

I  did  not  shoot  from  distances  much  exceeding  fifty  yards, 
and  when  it  was  possible  to  get  that  close  to  the  game, 
I  could  place  the  slugs  just  where  I  wished  them,  and  this 
was  in  the  centre  of  the  shoulder.  The  ball  rarely  passed 
out  on  the  opposite  side,  but,  unless  it  was  a  very  large 
bear,  both  shoulders  were  broken  and,  of  course,  under 
such  conditions,  the  animal  could  not  run  half  a  mile  and 
then  maul  the  hunter  to  death.  I  could,  without  doubt, 
have  killed  many  more  grizzlies,  but  I  was  averse  to 
wounding  game  and  have  it  get  away  and  suffer  torture, 
and  for  this  reason  I  seldom  took  any  chances  at  long- 
distance shots.  And,  again,  I  took  great  pride  in  disprov- 
ing the  theory  that  a  grizzly  could  not  be  killed  at  one 
shot. 

Later,  for  a  time,  I  took  up  the  .30-30  and  found  that, 
while  it  did  good  execution,  it  was  hardly  the  arm  for 
good,  clean  killing.  I  have  never  lost  but  two  wounded 
grizzlies,  and  these  were  both  shot  with  the  .30-30.  If  I 
were  to  hunt  grizzlies  again  I  would  take  the  .35,  which  I 
consider  the  best  rifle  for  large  game  at  the  present  time. 
It  has  an  ideal  bullet  that  mushrooms  nicely,  and  the  ve- 
locity is  great  enough  to  produce  a  tremendous  shock. 

Compare  such  weapons  as  these  with  those  that 
Adams  used  in  the  early  fifties.  His  rifles  were  two; 
one,  an  old  Kentucky  arm,  carried  thirty  balls  to  the  pound, 
which  would  make  the  weight  of  the  bullets  two  hundred 
and  fifty-six  grains.  The  other  was  a  Tennessee  rifle 
that  shot  bullets  sixty  to  the  pound,  the  bullets  weighing 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  grains.  The  amount  of 
powder  used  we  can  only  guess  at  as,  most  likely,  Adams 
did.  These  were  not  very  heavy  weapons,  one  would 


252  The  Grizzly  Bear 

think,  to  kill  an  animal  popularly  supposed  to  pack  away 
anywhere  from  three  to  thirty  slugs  from  our  modern 
guns,  and  then  perhaps  to  climb  a  tree,  wait  for  the  unsus- 
pecting hunter,  pounce  down  on  him,  and  mangle  him 
to  death. 

Adams  writes  of  crawling  up  within  a  few  yards  of 
several  grizzlies  and  shooting  them  and  then  having  them 
run  off.  In  one  instance  he  tells  of  wounding  an  old  fe- 
male with  two  cubs,  whereupon  the  mother  left  the  cubs 
and  ran  away.  In  one  or  two  cases  he  refers  to  the  vitality 
of  the  bears  he  had  shot  but  he  seldom  emphasizes  it. 
He  does,  however,  on  several  occasions,  comment  upon 
the  general  attitude  of  hunters  toward  these  animals, 
saying,  for  instance,  of  his  companion  on  one  trip,  "He 
was  a  good  hunter,  but,  like  most  of  them,  not  over  fond 
of  a  grizzly  bear";  and  of  another  (named  Wright,  I  re- 
gret to  say),  "He  was  a  good-enough  hunter  of  deer,  but, 
like  all  other  men  who  have  had  little  experience  with 
them,  terribly  afraid  of  a  grizzly  bear."  He  does,  how- 
ever, mention  one  bear  as  having  been  shot  through  the 
head,  the  heart,  and  the  bowels,  while  several  balls  had 
taken  effect  in  the  sides,  but  had  not  gone  through  the  fat. 
The  bear  ran  seven  or  eight  hundred  yards  after  this 
much  shooting.  The  ball  through  the  head  could  not, 
of  course,  have  hit  the  brain,  and  the  one  through  the 
bowels  would  not  necessarily  have  stopped  her  under 
the  distance  mentioned,  while  those  sticking  in  the  sides, 
passing  through  the  hide  only,  counted  for  nothing.  The 
only  shot  that  could  really  have  proved  effective  was  the 
one  in  the  heart,  and  as  Adams  does  not  state  that  he 
examined  this  organ  to  find  just  where  the  ball  lodged, 


His  Vitality  253 

or  what  part  of  it  was  penetrated,  we  must  assume  that 
it  was  not  the  upper  part  of  it,  where  all  the  large  blood- 
vessels are.  These  could  not  have  been  severed,  or  the 
bear  could  not  have  run  so  far. 

This  brings  up  another  important  and  very  interesting 
question,  namely,  how  far  can  an  animal  travel  after  having 
been  actually  shot  through  the  heart  ?  The  answer  is, 
that  it  depends  altogether  upon  which  part  of  the  heart  the 
ball  hits.  Some  time  since,  while  talking  with  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Lambert  of  New  York,  who  has  had  a  wide  experi- 
ence in  hunting  large  game,  I  asked  him  if  he  had  ever 
known  an  animal  to  travel  any  distance  after  it  had  re- 
ceived a  shot  through  the  top  of  the  heart,  severing  all  the 
large  blood-vessels.  He  replied  that  I  was  the  first  hunter 
he  had  ever  known  that  made  any  distinction  in  heart 
shots,  and  that  he  had  never  seen  an  animal  survive  such 
a  shot  as  I  described  more  than  momentarily.  Once  he 
so  shot  a  caribou  that  was  standing  still  when  the  shot 
was  fired,  and  the  animal  made  a  couple  of  spasmodic 
leaps  and  covered  some  fifty  feet  after  being  hit.  But 
even  this  was  exceptional.  As  a  rule,  an  animal  so  hit 
drops  in  its  tracks. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctor  brought  out  a  work  on 
the  surgery  of  the  heart  and  lungs,  and  showed  me  that 
shots  in  the  heart  other  than  the  one  mentioned  were 
not  even  necessarily  fatal.  The  following  are  some 
notes  taken  from  this  book: 

"Pare  (1552)  tells  of  a  duellist  who  ran  two  hundred 
paces  after  receiving  a  sword  thrust  through  the  heart 
making  a  hole  large  enough  to  admit  the  finger,  and  who 
fought  in  a  vicious  manner  all  the  way. 


254  The  Grizzly  Bear 

"Balch(i77i)  had  a  patient  with  a  rifle  ball  in  the  heart 
who  fully  recovered  in  six  weeks  and  lived  eighteen  years. 

"Hally  (1878)  had  a  case  of  a  rifle  ball  in  the  heart 
where  the  man  lived  fifty-five  days;  then  death  was  caused 
by  working  in  the  field. 

"Dudley  (1882)  had  a  patient  with  a  pistol  ball  in 
the  heart  who  lived  four  days. 

"Ferris  (1882)  reports  a  case  of  a  man  living  twenty 
days  with  a  skewer  completely  traversing  the  heart." 

So  we  might  go  on  and  show  more  cases  where  heart 
shots  have  failed  to  kill  at  once.  But  a  shot  through  the 
upper  portion  of  the  heart,  severing  all  the  large  blood- 
vessels, produces  instant  collapse  in  most  cases,  and  death 
within  a  few  seconds  always.  The  doctor  explained  these 
facts  by  saying  that  if  an  animal  collapses  at  once  from  a 
shot  in  the  ventricle  or  lower  portion  of  the  heart  it  is 
from  the  shock.  Otherwise  death  only  results  from  the 
comparatively  gradual  filling  of  the  pericardial  cavity, 
and  the  consequent  smothering  of  the  heart's  beating  in 
its  own  blood.  The  shattering  of  the  auricle  or  upper 
portion  of  the  heart,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only  severs 
the  large  blood-vessels  and  almost  instantly  floods  the 
pericardium,  but  paralyzes  the  heart's  action  at  its  source, 
since  the  impulse  of  this  action  starts  in  the  auricle. 

Of  course  no  statement  made  in  regard  to  a  wound 
has  any  scientific  value  unless  the  wound  was  carefully 
dissected  out  after  death.  And  no  statement  has  any 
value  whatever  when  it  relates  to  wounds  inflicted  on  an 
animal  that  escaped.  I  have  already  drawn  attention 
to  the  liability  to  mistake  inherent  in  this  kind  of  a  report 
in  the  case  of  Jack  and  the  charging  grizzly. 


His  Vitality  255 

The  truth  is,  that  the  grizzly  is  just  as  easily  killed 
with  the  modern  rifle  as  is  the  duck  or  snipe  with  the 
modern  shot-gun.  The  main  thing  in  the  whole  business 
is  to  keep  cool  and  put  the  bullets  in  the  right  place.  If 
the  hunter  will  land  well  in  the  centre  of  the  shoulder  or 
just  back  of  it  or  at  the  butt  of  the  ear,  he  will  kill  at  once 
in  every  case. 


XXIII 
FACT  FERSUS  FICTION 

WHEN  I  first  began  actually  to  hunt  the  grizzly  I 
found  that  much  of  what  I  had  read  about  him 
and  most  of  what  I  had  heard  was  fiction. 

From  childhood  I  had  read  every  book  that  I  could 
lay  hands  on  that  treated  of  these  bears,  and  later  I  had 
listened  (I  dare  say  with  open  mouth  and  eyes)  to  those 
I  met  who  claimed  to  have  had  experience.  I  had  come 
to  look  upon  the  old-time  hunters  as  heroes  and  demi- 
gods, and  was  inclined  to  accept  their  successors,  when 
I  ran  across  them,  as  teachers  at  whose  feet  I  was  glad  to 
sit  and  learn.  When,  therefore,  my  early  experience 
began  to  tumble  my  supposed  knowledge  about  my  ears, 
I  hastily  said  in  my  heart,  like  the  Psalmist,  that  all  men 
were  liars. 

But  since  then  I  have  seen  more  both  of  men  and  of 
bears,  and  have  come  to  realize  that  if  the  men  who  have 
written  nonsense  about  grizzlies  were  technically  liars, 
most  of  them  were  quite  unconscious  of  the  fact;  and 
that  if  grizzlies  are  not  altogether  as  they  have  been  repre- 
sented, they  are  sufficiently  variable  and  individual  in 
their  actions  and  habits  to  have,  in  most  cases,  supplied 

some  nucleus  of  fact  for  the  fictions  to  form  on. 

256 


Fact  versus  Fiction  257 

I  have  come,  for  instance,  to  see  how  inevitable  it  was 
that,  with  the  exception  of  here  and  there  a  really  scien- 
tific naturalist,  hardly  any  of  those  who  have  written 
about  the  grizzly  have  written  from  personal  experience. 
And  I  have  come  to  understand  how  naturally,  under 
these  circumstances,  more  romance  than  truth  has  found 
its  way  into  print,  and  why  it  is  that  so  very  little  of  what 
is  set  down  actually  touches  the  real  character  of  the  ani- 
mal. And  I  have  thought  in  this  chapter  to  speak  of  a 
few  of  the  more  widely  current  of  these  misconceptions, 
and  to  cite  -a  few  amusing  instances  of  their  method  of 
growth. 

And  first  let  us  quite  candidly  face  the  simple  truth 
that,  as  a  rule,  the  old  hunters  and  trappers,  however 
well  meaning  they  may  be,  are  not  to  be  relied  upon  for 
information  that  is  worth  much  from  a  scientific  stand- 
point. I  well  remember  the  first  one  I  ever  saw.  He 
was  an  old,  grizzled  fellow,  all  covered  with  scars,  which 
he  claimed  were  the  results  of  his  encounters  with  grizzly 
bears,  mountain  lions,  and  Indian  arrows.  This  old 
chap  had  heard  that  there  was  a  man  in  town  that  was 
going  bear  hunting,  and  he  took  occasion  to  seek  me  out 
and  have  a  talk  with  me  about  the  trip. 

He  said  that  as  sure  as  I  went  hunting  grizzlies  with 
the  gun  I  then  had  (it  was  my  old  .44  Winchester)  I 
would  be  killed,  as  it  was  not  powerful  enough  to  kill  a 
bear.  He  declared  emphatically  that  no  bear  could  be 
killed  with  one  shot,  and  that  the  animals  would  attack 
a  person  at  sight.  He  maintained  that  he  had  shot  griz- 
zlies that  had  gone  a  mile  or  more  after  receiving  several 
mortal  wounds,  and  that,  when  finally  overtaken,  they 


258  The  Grizzly  Bear 

were  found  to  have  plugged  up  the  bullet  holes  with  moss 
to  stop  the  flow  of  blood. 

When  I  returned  I  hunted  the  old  fellow  up,  and  told 
him  that  the  bears  were  too  wild  to  hunt  with  any  show 
of  success;  but  he  merely  looked  me  up  and  down,  remark- 
ing that  this  was  my  first  hunt,  and  intimated  that  if  I  kept 
on  hunting  and  remained  of  the  same  opinion,  people 
would  not  be  bothered  long  with  my  presence  above 
ground. 

And  I  dare  say  that  up  to  a  certain  point  he  was  honest 
with  me.  These  old  fellows  are  as  full  of  superstition  as  an 
egg  is  of  meat.  There  are  a  hundred  bits  of  wood-lore  and 
animal  legend  that  they  have  taken  on  faith,  and  that, 
not  being  at  all  vital  to  the  conduct  of  their  own  affairs, 
they  have  never  even  questioned  and  would  never  think 
to  question.  They  are  quite  devoid  of  what  might  be 
called  scientific  curiosity.  The  one  thing  about  a  bear 
that  interests  them  is  his  hide.  The  only  facts  they  ever 
learn  about  him  are  how  to  lure  him  into  traps.  If  this 
old  man  had  ever  really  shot  a  grizzly,  had  ever  come  into 
closer  quarters  with  one  than  to  set  a  deadfall  for  him,  I 
have  no  doubt  that  he  looked  back  upon  the  adventure 
much  as  St.  George  may  have  looked  upon  his  set-to 
with  the  dragon;  and  the  tale  of  his  prowess  had  grown 
in  the  telling  until  he  believed  in  the  revised  version  him- 
self. I  have  heard  many  of  these  old  fellows  declare 
that  the  mountain  lion  of  California  has  a  mane  like  the 
African  lion,  and  that  they  had  killed  these  animals  that 
would  measure  from  twelve  to  thirteen  feet  from  tip  to 
tip. 

And,  of  course,  we  must  not  mix  up  the  entirely  dis- 


Fact  versus  Fiction  259 

tinct  acts  of  lying  and  "stuffing  the  tenderfoot."  When 
a  man  can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  lives  most  of  his  life 
alone  on  fresh  venison  and  flapjacks,  he  is  entitled  to 
some  amusement. 

One  of  the  most  widely  disseminated  legends  about 
the  grizzly  is  the  alleged  fact  that  they  bite  and  scratch 
trees  as  a  sort  of  challenge  to  would-be  rivals.  It  has 
even  been  asserted  that  these  marks  are  purposely  made 
and  duly  heeded  as  a  sort  of  "warning  against  trespassers," 
and  mark  the  limits  of  the  range  claimed  by  the  bear  that 
makes  them.  The  laws  that  govern  the  matter  have  al- 
most been  codified.  We  are  told  that  the  grizzly  that 
posts  one  of  these  notices  holds  a  good  title  to  the  posted 
territory  until  another  bear  comes  along  that  can  put  his 
own  mark  above  it.  That  the  bear  with  the  longest  reach 
is  "boss"  of  that  ward.  We  are  told  how  an  ambitious 
young  grizzly  on  the  lookout  for  a  location  will  wander 
from  one  part  of  the  hills  to  another,  measuring  up  the 
various  marks,  until  he  finds  one  that  he  can  overtop  by 
.an  inch  or  so,  when  he  puts  his  sign-manual  above  it  and 
enters  then  and  there  into  possession  while  the  old  owner 
slinks  off  to  look  for  a  new  job. 

One  writer  has  even  told  of  an  especially  clever  but 
dishonest  young  bear  that  rolled  a  stump  up  to  the  notice 
tree,  and  by  standing  on  it  placed  his  mark  so  far  out  of 
reach  of  ordinary  property  owners  that  it  struck  terror 
to  a  whole  neighborhood. 

Now  there  is  just  one  grain  of  truth  in  this  entire  mass 
of  imagination — grizzlies  do,  occasionally,  bite  chunks 
out  of  trees.  Why  they  do  it  the  Lord  that  made  them 
may  know,  but  I  am  certain  that  no  one  else  does;  and, 


260  The  Grizzly  Bear 

so  far  from  ever  having  seen  it  claimed  that  the  writers 
of  these  phantasies  ever  saw  a  grizzly  examine  one  of 
these  "challenges"  and  heed  it,  I  have  never  seen  an 
eye- witness's  account  of  the  making  of  these  marks;  and 
only  three  times  in  all  the  years  that  I  have  watched  these 
animals  have  I  stumbled  on  a  sight  of  the  operation. 

The  first  time  was  many  years  ago  while  sitting  one 
evening  on  the  side  of  a  mountain  watching  five  grizzlies 
that  were  out  feeding.  It  was  August,  and  their  hides  were 
worthless,  and  I  was  studying  them  with  no  idea  of  shoot- 
ing. The  bears  all  came  out  of  a  thickly  timbered  canon 
through  which  ran  an  old  game  trail  made  by  deer  and 
elk.  I  had  often  travelled  this  trail,  and  noticed  that 
here  and  there  large  pieces  had  been  ripped  out  of  the 
trees,  apparently  by  some  animal  with  long,  sharp  teeth. 
Inspection  indicated  that  two  teeth  had  been  sunk  into  the 
wood  an  inch  or  more,  and  then,  by  a  sharp  twist,  a  slab  of 
wood  had  been  torn  off,  and  I  had  supposed  the  animal 
that  did  it  was  a  bear,  for  I  could  plainly  see  the  mark 
of  a  bear's  claws  in  the  bark. 

The  evening  in  question,  while  watching  the  mouth 
of  this  canon,  I  saw,  first,  an  old  she  bear  and  her  two 
yearling  cubs  appear  and  start  feeding  on  the  ripe  berries. 
Later  an  old  male  came  out  and  also  started  feasting; 
and  these  four  bears  were  making  great  inroads  on  the 
berries  when  a  fifth  appeared.  He  was  smaller  than 
the  older  male,  but  he  came  out  of  the  canon  slowly 
and  sedately,  and  seemed  to  be  very  lazy  and  not  more 
than  half  awake.  He  came  to  the  edge  of  the  timber  and, 
looking  indifferently  around,  as  these  animals  will  under 
such  circumstances,  sat  down  and  scratched  his  ear  with 


Fact  versus  Fiction  261 

his  hind  foot.  He  then  got  up  lazily,  sniffed  up  and 
down  the  trunk  of  a  small  fir-tree,  stretched  his  paws 
upward  arid,  raising  himself  on  his  hind  feet  to  his  ex- 
treme height,  set  his  teeth  into  the  small  trunk  and  yanked 
off  a  chunk  similar  to  those  I  had  seen  scattered  along 
the  trail.  This  was  all  done  in  the  most  unconcerned 
and  bored  manner  imaginable,  without  any  show  of  ug- 
liness or  temper.  There  was  nothing  to  indicate  in  the 
least  that  the  brute  intended  the  act  as  a  defiance  or  a 
challenge  to  any  other  bear.  He  acted  as  if  he  had  noth- 
ing to  do  and  was  hard  pressed  to  pass  away  the  time. 
Afterward  he  walked  out  to  where  the  other  bears  were 
and  joined  them  at  berry  picking.  The  other  male  bear 
paid  no  attention  whatever  to  the  action. 

On  another  occasion  I  saw  two  three-year-old  griz- 
zlies peacefully  ambling  along  a  side  hill.  They  were 
tranquilly  inclined  and  were  apparently  out  for  a  prom- 
enade, with  nothing  of  special  importance  on  their  minds. 
They  would  walk  along  for  a  short  distance,  stop  and 
sniff  at  stumps,  scratch  a  little,  and  then  move  on  again. 
After  a  time  they  came  to  some  trees,  and  one  of  them 
stood  up  with  his  paws  against  a  trunk,  smelled  quite 
around  it,  turned  his  head  sideways,  drove  his  teeth 
through  an  inch  or  more  of  wood,  and  with  a  twist  of  his 
head  ripped  off  a  slab.  He  then  sniffed  at  the  open  place, 
lapped  it  a  little  with  his  tongue,  dropped  down  on  all- 
fours,  and  followed  the  other  bear  that  had  meanwhile 
moved  on.  In  this  instance  it  was  the  larger  of  the  two 
bears  that  did  the  "challenging." 

On  the  third  occasion  I  saw  a  lone  bear  stop  beside 
a  trail  and  go  through  practically  this  same  performance. 


262  The  Grizzly  Bear 

In  each  instance  it  was  a  grizzly  that  did  the  biting.  I 
have  never  seen  a  black  bear  make  these  marks  on  trees. 

I  would  like,  myself,  to  know  why  the  bears  do  this, 
but  I  never  expect  to.  And,  after  all,  the  action  is  so 
casual,  so  animal-like,  so  similar  to  a  cat's  stretching 
itself  against  a  tree,  that  it  is  probably  quite  without  hid- 
den meaning.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  much  given 
to  overworking  our  imaginations. 

Another  notion  commonly  current  is  that  a  grizzly  will 
throw  his  fore  legs  around  an  antagonist  and  "hug"  him 
to  death.  There  is  no  truth  whatever  in  this  idea,  beyond 
the  fact  that  a  grizzly,  in  attacking  a  large  animal  like  a 
steer,  will  sometimes  hold  it  with  one  paw  while  he  strikes 
it  or  rips  it  open  with  the  other.  Indeed,  I  imagine  that 
this  supposed  habit  has  been  attributed  to  the  grizzly 
merely  because  it  has  long  been  credited  to  bears  in 
general. 

Again,  contrary  to  the  usual  belief,  I  have  never  yet 
seen  a  charging  grizzly  stand  on  his  hind  legs  and  thus 
walk  up  to  his  antagonist.  I  do  not  believe  that  this  is 
their  mode  of  attack.  All  that  I  have  seen  fight  went  at 
things  with  a  rush  on  all- fours;  sometimes  with  a  bawl 
and  a  snort  and  with  champing  of  the  jaws,  but  never 
with  open  mouth.  They  will,  however,  bite  and  rend 
with  their  teeth,  sometimes  holding  down  the  object  of 
their  wrath  with  their  fore  paws  while  they  tear  and  bite. 
I  have  seen  them  rear  up  on  their  hind  feet  to  deliver  a 
blow,  but  have  never  known  them  to  do  this  until  they 
were  near  enough  to  strike.  The  idea  that  a  grizzly  de- 
liberately stands  up  and  walks  up  to  his  antagonist,  like 
one  of  the  principals  in  a  prize-ring,  is  a  mistaken  one. 


Fact  versus  Fiction  263 

A  grizzly  will,  upon  any  pretext  whatever,  stand  up  and 
look  about  him.  Whenever  he  sees,  or  thinks  he  is  going 
to  see,  anything,  up  he  goes  to  his  full  height  on  his  hind 
feet;  but  I  have  never  seen  one  start  to  make  a  charge 
from  this  position. 

Again,  it  is  often  supposed  that  some  of  the  oddly 
colored  bears  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  are  crosses 
between  the  black  and  the  grizzly  bears.  Any  one  who 
has  seen  the  agility  with  which  a  black  bear  will  take  to 
a  tree  if  a  grizzly  happens  along,  or  has  marvelled  at  the 
refinement  of  scent  or  hearing  that  enables  one  to  detect 
the  approach  of  a  grizzly  (and  beat  a  silent  retreat  in  con- 
sequence) long  minutes  before  a  human  watcher  becomes 
aware  of  a  grizzly's  presence  in  the  neighborhood,  would 
not  need  the  denial  of  science  to  help  him  discredit  this 
bit  of  genealogical  speculation. 

But  it  would  be  an  endless  task  to  run  down  all  these 
flourishing  misconceptions.  Just  to  give  an  idea  of  how 
they  spread,  I  quote  a  few  extracts  from  various  articles 
that  have,  from  time  to  time,  been  solemnly  put  forth  as 
authoritative  and  even  scientific. 

One  writer  blandly  remarks  that  "all  grizzlies  inter- 
breed, and  this  obliterates  some  characteristic  marks  of  the 
several  species.  On  the  southern  Pacific  coast  the  two  gray 
species — the  light  and  the  mud  grays — are  closely  allied." 
And,  again,  that  "the  original  silver-tips  sprang  from 
grizzly  and  brown  bears,  and  they  combine  all  the  feroc- 
ty  and  prowess  of  the  former,  with  the  agility  and  stub- 
bornness of  the  latter." 

In  summing  up  the  food  habits  of  the  animal  the 
same  writer  says:  'He  has  a  fondness  for  horse  and 


264  The  Grizzly  Bear 

mule  meat,  and  he  will  climb  trees,  rob  bird's  nests,  and 
eat  the  eggs  there."  Also  that  "he  will  climb  a  fruit- 
tree,  strip  whole  branches  of  ripe  fruit  with  his  huge  paws 
and  claws,  and  then  on  the  way  home  will  finish  off  the 
meal  with  a  toad  or  a  lizard."  This  gentleman  also  says 
that  "a  grizzly  loves  to  feed  on  ants."  But  then,  perhaps 
startled  over  finding  himself  so  well  within  the  bounds  of 
fact,  adds  that  "he  knocks  the  top  off  an  ant  hill,  buries 
his  nose  in  the  interior,  and  by  a  few  inward  breaths  like 
a  suction  pump,  draws  every  vestige  of  life  from  the  great- 
est hill." 

Another  writer,  a  State  Senator  by  the  way,  tells  of 
shooting  a  grizzly  four  times  through  the  heart  and  hav- 
ing it  still  chase  him  over  down  timber  and  bad  going,  and 
only  fall  dead  as  it  was  about  to  fell  him.  And  he  goes 
on  to  tell  of  a  grizzly  bear  in  the  San  Bernardino  Moun- 
tains that  used  to  come  once  a  week,  climb  a  live-oak  tree, 
walk  out  along  a  horizontal  branch  over  a  high-fenced 
pigpen,  drop  in,  steal  a  little  pig,  push  the  gate  open  (it 
opened  out),  and  go  home. 

One  frequently,  in  the  mountains,  sees  a  great  fir- 
tree  growing  among  the  rocks  with  only  a  thimbleful  of 
earth  within  reach.  If  one  follows  up  the  published  liter- 
ature on  the  grizzly  bear,  one  is  likely  to  see  that  misin- 
formation has  the  knack  of  flourishing  upon  an  equally 
small  store  of  fact. 


XXIV 
CONCLUSION 

1DO  not  profess  to  know  everything  about  the  grizzly. 
I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  person  can,  of  his  own 
knowledge,  know  all  that  is  to  be  known  about  any  animal. 
Unless,  indeed,  he  has  followed  and  watched  and  studied 
that  animal  in  all  the  different  localities  and  under  all  the 
differing  conditions  where  it  exists,  he  is  liable  to  find  him- 
self generalizing  even  in  regard  to  its  more  obvious  habits 
and  characteristics  from  insufficient  data. 

Some  years  ago,  while  hunting  in  the  Bitter  Roots,  one 
of  the  party  who  had  hunted  elk  in  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, and  especially  in  the  Olympic  Mountains  in  Washing- 
ton, asked  me  if  there  were  any  elderberry  bushes  in  the 
Bitter  Roots.  I  told  him  that  there  were  many  of  them. 
He  replied  that  he  would  not,  in  that  case,  need  any  one  to 
show  him  where  to  hunt  elk,  as  they  would  be  found 
wherever  these  bushes  grew.  So,  after  much  explora- 
tion, he  selected  a  large  side  hill  covered  with  this  growth, 
and  there  he  put  in  most  of  his  time  for  a  week  watching 
for  elk  that  never  came.  The  other  members  of  the  party 
had  killed  their  game  long  before  this  man  could  be  made 
to  believe  that  the  Bitter  Root  elk  were  not  Olympic  elk 

and  did  not  live  on  these  bushes. 

265 


266  The  Grizzly  Bear 

It  had  always  been  his  custom  to  cut  open  the  stomachs 
of  the  game  he  killed  and  to  examine  their  contents  in 
order  to  see  just  what  food  the  animal  preferred  and  to 
know  where  to  hunt  it;  and  he  claimed  that  he  had  never 
killed  an  elk  in  the  Olympics  that  did  not  have  the  leaves 
of  the  elder  in  its  stomach.  He,  therefore,  cut  open 
every  elk  that  was  killed  on  the  trip  to  prove  that  this 
was  characteristic  of  the  species,  but  never  an  elder-bush 
leaf  could  be  found  in  the  stomach  of  an  elk  of  the  Bitter 
Root  range.  In  fact,  these  elks  seemed  to  actually  avoid 
the  places  where  this  bush  grew. 

So  with  the  grizzly  bear.  A  naturalist  who  had 
studied  him  in  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  would  say  that 
he  was  a  skilful  fisherman  and  a  greedy  eater  of  his 
catch,  that  he  fed  voraciously  on  the  leaves  of  the  shoot- 
ing star,  and  that  he  seldom  touched  flesh.  And  men  who 
had  only  known  these  animals  in  the  Selkirks  or  in  Wy- 
oming would,  in  either  case,  declare  that  the  author  knew 
nothing  of  what  he  was  writing  about. 

But  these  local  discrepancies  are  the  most  obvious 
of  our  pitfalls.  Let  the  student  follow  where  he  will  and 
watch  with  what  devotion  he  may,  the  wild  beasts  guard 
many  of  their  actions  from  his  eyes.  And  at  the  last, 
when  he  perhaps  thinks  that  he  has  surprised  all  but  the 
most  hidden  of  their  secrets,  he  will  come  up  against  that 
impenetrable  barrier  that  separates  their  minds  from 
his.  Then,  if  he  is  wise,  he  will  place  a  watch  on  his 
imagination. 

I  have  tried  to  the  best  of  my  ability  to  keep  these 
facts  in  mind.  I  have  avoided  where  I  could  the  easy 
mistake  of  coloring  the  actions  of  the  observed  animal 


Conclusion  267 

with  the  psychology  of  the  observer.  I  have  put  down 
my  experiences  with  candor,  and  I  have  advanced  my 
beliefs  without  meaning  to  dogmatize. 

One  word  I  would  like  to  say  about  shooting.  I  am 
the  last  one,  although  I  myself  have  had  my  fill  of  it,  to 
decry  the  pursuit  of  the  hunter,  but  if  one  wishes  really  to 
study  an  animal  let  him  go  without  a  gun:  he  will  learn 
more  about  him  in  one  season  than  he  will  in  a  lifetime 
of  hunting  to  kill.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  when  one  is 
shooting  one  will  take  the  first  opportunity  that  is  offered 
to  shoot,  and  this,  of  course,  ends  the  chances  of  observa- 
tion so  far  as  that  animal  goes.  But  there  is  another  con- 
sideration. It  is  only  when  an  animal  is  wholly  at  ease, 
unconscious  of  one's  presence,  that  one  sees  him  as  he 
really  is.  Then,  and  then  only,  do  we  catch  those  intimate 
glimpses  and  chance  views  that  admit  us,  as  it  were,  to  a 
knowledge  of  his  home  life  and  to  an  understanding  of  the 
character  that  underlies  his  company  manners.  And 
my  experience  has  left  no  doubt  in  my  mind  but  what 
there  is  some  kind  of  telepathy  between  man  and  brute 
as  well  as  between  man  and  man;  and  that  an  inter- 
ested but  sympathetic  watcher  can  remain  unnoticed 
where  the  presence  of  a  hostile  one  might  breed  uneasi- 
ness, if  not  suspicion,  in  the  mind  of  an  animal. 

Finally,  I  have  dwelt  so  much  upon  the  difference 
between  the  grizzly  of  popular  imagination  and  the  real 
grizzly  of  the  wilds,  that  it  may  possibly  appear  that  my 
traffic  with  this  magnificent  animal  has  not  left  me  one 
of  his  admirers.  As  a  matter  of  fact  nothing  could  be 
farther  from  the  truth. 

First  and  last  I  have  hunted  and  killed  all  the  big 


268  The  Grizzly  Bear 

game  of  this  continent  south  of  the  Barren  Grounds  and 
Alaska.  Later,  as  the  years  passed  and  I  became  less 
enamoured  of  killing,  I  have  been  interested  in  the  study 
of  these  animals,  one  and  all.  There  is,  indeed,  no  form 
of  life  in  the  open  that  is  not  beautiful,  and  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  own  that  I  have  spent  many  happy  and  silent 
hours  watching  the  humblest  of  them.  But  not  only  as  a 
sportsman  did  my  interest  in  the  grizzly  survive  the  dis- 
covery that  all  my  early  and  romantic  ideas  about  him 
were  ill-founded,  but,  as  a  student,  I  have  steadily  added 
to  my  admiration  for  him. 

He  is  the  one  wild  animal  of  our  wilderness  that  owns 
no  natural  over-lord.  With  the  exception  of  man  he 
deigns  to  recognize  no  enemy.  And  if  he  is  not,  as  he 
was  once  thought,  the  bloodthirsty  and  tyrranous  auto- 
crat of  his  vast  domain,  he  is  none  the  less  its  master. 
If,  in  sober  truth,  he  is  less  terrible  than  he  was  painted, 
he  only  loses  interest  and  dignity  in  the  eyes  of  those 
whom  fear  alone  impresses. 

In  short,  just  as  the  grizzly  was  in  the  beginning  the 
lure  that  drew  me  to  the  wilderness,  so  now,  to  my  mind, 
he  remains  the  grandest  animal  our  country  knows. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


PAGE 


Adams,  James  Capen 4,  37  et  seq.,  197, 200,  212,  227,  238,  243, 

244,  251,  252 

Adams,  James  H , 87 

American  Naturalist,  The 44 

Athabaska  River 134 

Audubon,  John  James 33, 34 

Barnum,  P.  T.. 4,  45,  46,  215 

Bear,  Black 19,  24,  48,  49,  50,  189,  191,  195,  197,  198,  199, 

203,  210,  211,  263 

"      Cinnamon 191 

"      Great  Naked 26 

"       Grizzly,  Barren  Ground 49,  51,  185,  186 

"        Californian 40,  49 

"        Challenges 259,  260,  261 

Charging 61,  93,  131,  132,  161,  162,  233,  262 

"        Color 22,  189-195 

Cubs 41,  199-205 

Domestication 42,  43,  44 

Indian  Classification 23 

Kodiak 48,  50,  51 

Life  Span 213-216 

Mating  Season 207-210,  243,  244 

Polar 48,  49,  50 

Rocky  Mountain 29,  39,  49,  50,  51,  185,  186 

Sitka 48,  49,  50,  51 

Size 186,  195-197,  204 

271 


((  II 

(I  u 

((  (t 

tl  it 


2J2 


Index 


PAGE 

Bear,  Grizzly,  Sonora 49»  l85 

Teeth 189 

Tracks 187,  188 

"Ben  Franklin" 41,  44,  45>  46,  212 

Bitter  Root  Mountains 56,  79,  88,  95,  135,  138,  163,  207,  214, 

218,  222,  265,  266 

Boone,  Daniel 47 

Bratton  (of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition) 17,  231 

Bridges,  Jim. 36 

Carlin,  W.  E 135 

Carson,  Kit 36 

Caton,  John  Dean 44 

Chihuahua,  Mexico 192 

Clark,  Malcolm 241 

Clark,  Captain  William 16,  20,  231 

Clearwater  River 57,  69,  88,  138,  218,  228 

Clinton,  De  Witt 26,  29 

Coleman,  T.  C 105,  117 

Columbia  River 23 

Columbian  Ground  Squirrel 79,  219 

Crocket,  David 47 

Delaware  and  Mohican  Indians 26 

Dog-Tooth  Violet 107,  222 

Drummond,  J.  L 34,  35,  241,  243 

El  Paso,  Texas 192 

Godman's  Natural  History 31 

Guthrie's  Geography 28 

Harlan,  Richard 29,  3 j 

Harmon,  D.  W 30 

Heart  Wounds 253,  254 


Index  273 

PAGE 

Himmelwright,  A.  L.  A 211 

Hittell,  Theodore  H 38,  44-47,  *97 

Hornaday,  Dr.  William  T 191,  193,  194,  196,  200,  210,  234 

James,  Edwin 30 

Kerfoot,  J.  B 165,  173,  174,  177,  178,  180,  181 

Kooskooskee  River 21 

Kootenai 219 

"Lady  Washington" 40,  41,  44,  45,  46,  200 

Lambert,  Dr.  Alexander 253,  254 

Lamoche,  Baptiste 34 

Landseer,  John 33 

Lewis,  Captain  Meriwether 13,  15,  17.  19,  231,  239,  240 

Lewis  and  Clark 13  et  seq,  26,  28,  30,  35,  190,  193,  196,  231, 

232,  234,  241,  248 

Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  York 26,  27 

Lolo  Trail,  The 95 

Long,  Major  Stephen  H 30 

MacKenzie,  Sir  Alexander 14 

McNeil  (of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition) 24 

Merriam,  Dr.  C.  Hart 44,  48 

Missoula,  Montana 10 

Missouri  River 13,  19,  24,  26,  234 

"Moccasin  Joe" 187 

Muscle  Shell  River 19 

Newbert,  John 241 

O'Brien,  John  D 87 

"Old  Ephraim" 106,  187 

Olympic  Mountains 265 

Ord,  George 28,  29,  193 


274  Index 

PAGE 

Peace  River 14 

Peale's  Museum 31 

Penfield,  Dr.  C.  S 95,  105,  128 

Pike,  Lieutenant  Zebulon  M 32 

Pope,  M.  W 133 

Reid,  Captain  Mayne 36 

Richardson,  John 33,  34 

Rifles 55,  66,  73,  134,  137,  249,  250,  251 

Roosevelt,  Theodore 33 

Salmon 69,  70,  75,  218 

Saskatchewan  River 134 

Say,T 30 

Selkirk  Mountains 79,  80,  201,  205,  212,  213,  219,  222,  266 

Shields,  G.  0 117 

Shooting  Star 222,  266 

Smith,  Hamilton 29 

Spencer,  Martin 87 

Spokane,  Washington 6,  7,  8,  10 

Spring  Beauty 107,  222 

Umfreville,  Edward 14 

Warden,  Dr.  D.  B 30 

Whistling  Marmot 79,  80,  219 

White  Horse,  Yukon  Territory 192 

Williamson,  Andrew 242 

Wilson's  Creek 106  et  seq.,  205,  220,  225 

Yellowstone  National  Park 143  et  seq.,  199 

Yellowstone  River 13,  234 

Yosemite  Valley 39,  41 


